The Romance of Haruhi Suzumiya
by Stingythefish
Summary: Haruhi has developed a strange new hatred for couples. What is the cause? Looks like it's up to Kyon and the other SOS Brigade members to figure it out. HaruKyon slow build.
1. Chapter 1

They say that once you find the one, don't let her go, because you'll never find another like her.

I don't get that phrase. I'm not sure it's all that popular of a phrase, and to be honest, I've only really heard my mom say it, but she said it's a common phrase, so I'll assume that's the case. Anyway, I don't think it makes all that much sense. If you think about it, there are at any given moment on this planet, around seven billion people. The majority of them get married to someone else who's living at the same time as them, and typically who's living really close to them (in terms of the planet, of course).

The odds that mostly everyone on the planet would find their "true love" in their lifetime and right where they live, then, seems preposterous, if you use that phrase as a rule of thumb. That phrase would mean that within one's short existence, they would have to find the person that's meant for them out of all seven billion people living on this Earth, and then also manage to keep them around. Ha! No chance.

That's why I think that phrase is dumb. Anyone can fall in love with anyone else, and then do it again, and again, as many times as possible. And just because one person they fall for leaves, doesn't mean that they won't ever be happy with anyone. It just means they have to keep looking. After all, plenty of people go through rough relationships with someone who they thought was the love of their life, and then later down the road they get married to someone who ended up being better.

You might be wondering why I'm bringing up this topic. Well, I'll tell you.

It was after school, and as always, I was stuck playing Othello with Koizumi again. He was losing miserably again. Nagato was reading in the corner again. Asahina was serving tea again. And I was bored out of my mind. Again. It seemed to be just another SOS Brigade meeting, though notably without the presence of the chief. There was only one thing that set today apart from most other days.

It was Valentine's Day.

Yes, it was that season of love, that special time when the students of every high school in Japan would find true love.

Ironically enough, it seemed to be quite the opposite for the Brigade. I mean, what do you expect, when over half of them are doing a job twenty-four seven? Heck, I don't think Nagato is even capable of romantic feelings.

Yet despite the fact that no one in the SOS Brigade cared about Valentine's Day, or was in a romantic relationship of any kind, the topic of romance still managed to get carried to my ears.

"Kyon, what do you think about romantic relationships?" Koizumi asked me out of the blue as he lay down a black tile onto the Othello board.

Why did he care, was my question. After all, he was an esper full time, and he'd never taken a liking to anyone like that as far as I could tell.

"Hmm. I suppose that's true. I guess that the fact that it's Valentine's Day has gotten me curious about the subject. Have you ever been romantically entangled, then, Kyon?" Koizumi said with the usual pleasant smile on his lips.

"Not like I'd tell you," I responded nonchalantly.

Koizumi shrugged. "Fair enough."

Haruhi suddenly burst through the door, wearing a bunny suit and holding a tall stack of flyers in her arms. An irritated expression covered her face as she stomped across the room and angrily dropped the flyers onto the table in the middle of the room. She gave Asahina a glare as she plopped in front of the computer.

"Asahina, where were you today?" Haruhi asked in a severely reprimanding tone, her irate eyes fixed on the poor girl. "I couldn't find you in the club room earlier, and you weren't in your classroom either!"

Asahina trembled. "Ah, I'm s-sorry; a classmate asked me for help with something so I couldn't make it to the club room on time."

Haruhi glared at the frightened girl. "Next time, you tell me before you go and help out a classmate. I had to hand out flyers by myself, and then that stupid student council president made me leave, the bastard!"

I raised an eyebrow. Why was Haruhi passing out flyers? What was the occasion, I asked.

Haruhi just gave me a look as though the answer to my question was the most obvious thing in the world. "What do you think? It's Valentine's Day, a time when all the girls give all the boys chocolate and whatnot. There are couples piling out of those doors by the dozen! It's the perfect opportunity to pass out flyers."

Well, yes, that was true, but people piled out of those doors every day anyway, I pointed out. What made the fact that they were couples so important?

Haruhi smirked smugly. "Kyon, remember when we did that whole investigation with those sick dogs?"

Oh, all too well. I was sure Shamisen remembered as well. I nodded in response.

"Well, I was thinking we'd do something like that again. Here," Haruhi tossed a flyer my way.

I stared at it, and confusion riddled my face. On the flyer, in big, bolded letters, we're the words "COUPLES' COUNSELLING: COURTESY OF THE BRIGADE."

"Couples' counselling?" I looked up at Haruhi, confused. "Why are we suddenly doing couples' counselling? And why does it just say 'Brigade' instead of 'SOS Brigade'? Won't people be unsure of who to go to in that case?"

Haruhi looked down at me, like she would an unwanted fly in her drink. "It says that because the student council president is trying to hunt us down, so I can't just blatantly put our name on a flyer. You recall that we aren't officially a club, at least according to him. So I put 'Brigade' there instead. People will know it's us. What other brigade is there?"

Koizumi nodded pleasantly. "I see."

"And we're doing couples' counselling because...?" I repeated, urging Haruhi.

"Because you never know what juicy, supernatural secrets these couples might be hiding. Maybe one of them is a vampire or something! This counselling thing will help us squeeze them dry of anything they might be hiding!"

"And what happens if...oh, I don't know...they come looking for actual counselling?"

Haruhi scoffed. "Don't worry. I'm a master negotiator; is counselling really any different?" Yes. "I'll just maneuver our talks towards the supernatural. There's gotta be something I can glean from these couples!"

Good luck with that.

The rest of my time at the club room that day was spent listening to Haruhi go on about the sort of thing that this could offer the brigade, and chastising me for my disinterested look. After that, Haruhi announced she was retiring to the computer to put up the flyer there, and I, already bored beyond belief, continued playing Othello against Koizumi while Haruhi's typing bore a hole into my brain. The clock seemed to slow with each passing second, until the glorious moment when I could go home.

"Hold up, Kyon!" Haruhi's voice cut through my hopes like a knife as she grabbed my shoulder forcefully. "I need you to hand out flyers in my place."

"Now?" I asked, desperation edging into my voice. "But there's no one else around right now!"

"Of course not, numbskull." Haruhi scowled. "Tomorrow. No doubt that annoying student council president will be on the lookout for anyone from the SOS Brigade dressed up in bunny girl outfits, so you'll be handing out flyers instead. It won't catch as many people's attention, but at least we'll avoid detection."

I looked incredulously at Haruhi. "Two things. First off, I'm also a known member of the SOS Brigade. Won't the student council president notice me handing out flyers and shut me down just as he would you?"

Haruhi chuckled in a high-and-mighty tone. "I guess you'll just have to be a bit more discreet then, huh, Kyon? Oh, and don't even think about getting caught. Trust me, if you do, heads will roll."

I decided to stress about that statement later, and held up two fingers. "Second off, it isn't even Valentine's Day anymore. Why would you want me to hand out holiday-specific cards the day after the holiday?"

"Were you even reading those flyers?" Haruhi glared at me. "They don't say 'Valentine's Day' anywhere on them. They just say 'Couples' Counselling'. And there will still be couples tomorrow, so make sure you get to passing out flyers tomorrow! Got it?"

I sighed, dejected, and nodded my head wearily, ready to go home and take a nap. Haruhi released her grip on my shoulder and I gratefully exited the club room. Tomorrow was another day.

Sure enough, Haruhi kept her word, though I had no doubt she would, and as soon as I arrived in the club room she dumped the flyers in my arms and sent me straight out the door. Great. I didn't even get to sample any of Asahina's glorious tea.

I made my way to the school's main doors, where most of the students were flooding out, and positioned myself in front of a tree, so that anyone behind me would only see tree bark. I then began passing out flyers to anyone nearby, though only a few were getting out. I imagined Haruhi and Asahina dressed up in bunny girl costumes in my mind. I bet they usually passed out way more flyers than I did.

After around ten to fifteen flyers were passed out, I noticed that the bulk of the students had passed me by, and only a few remained trickling out of the school. I handed out a few more before calling it quits. After checking my watch and finding out I still had a good deal of time before I could leave, I reluctantly made my way back towards the club room, the still large stack of flyers weighing down my arms.

Haruhi's eyes immediately locked onto me as I entered the club room, expectant glee in them, before they narrowed as she noticed how many flyers were left.

"What the hell, Kyon?" Haruhi said angrily. "I thought I told you to hand out flyers!"

I stifled a frustrated groan and set the flyers on the table. The reason why I hadn't handed out very many flyers was mostly because, through being discreet, I was forced to limit the amount of people I could hand flyers put to, I explained. Also, I just didn't really try very hard (I kept that part to myself).

Haruhi clenched her jaw. "See, Kyon, this is why you're the lowest ranked SOS Brigade member. Oh well; at least it's on the website now. Hopefully more people will see it there."

I sighed, and sat in my typical seat, gratefully taking a cup of tea from Asahina. I prepared myself for another boring day at the club room. I was, to my displeasure and misfortune, not let down. Again, the club room remained filled with only the sounds of Othello tiles hitting the board, of Nagato's page occasionally flipping, and of the clinking of tea cups against metal table. It was strange. For as much as Haruhi was newly motivated, she wasn't really doing much. Usually she would have us out acting on her orders, bugging people or running around town again.

Thanks to my earlier task, though, the time between when I sat down and when it was time to leave was shorter, and though I braced myself for another potential chore from Haruhi, I managed to get away unscathed. My hindrance would instead come from someone else.

"Kyon, may I speak with you alone?" Koizumi asked me as we both exited the school.

Great. What did he want? I nodded my head and he suggested a cafe at which we could talk. Not long after, we were sitting across from one another in a cafe. Great again. Two guys sitting across from one another at a cafe? I'm sure we didn't give off an impression different from the reality at all.

I ignored any potential looks we were getting and got straight to the point. "What is it? Is it about Suzumiya?"

Koizumi nodded, his usual pleasant smile replaced by a somewhat melancholic frown. "Unfortunately, yes, it is. You see, the Celestials are getting more dangerous, and their appearances are becoming more frequent as of late. My job is getting much harder."

Fantastic. I remembered the blue, destructive giants found within closed spaces which I had seen more times than I'd have liked. "Go on," I prompted Koizumi. "What's the problem with Suzumiya this time?"

Koizumi stared down at the table. "I'm not certain what exactly caused it. As is my duty, I constantly observe Haruhi Suzumiya and her behavior, and indeed I did so extensively as of more recently, due to the Celestials. I attempted to search for any abnormalities, so as to locate what it was that was causing Suzumiya to become so unstable. Do you know what I found, Kyon?"

I frowned at him. "Spit it out."

"I noticed that Suzumiya seemed to be glancing at couples a whole lot more than usual. As is the case around Valentine's Day, plenty of other students have recently begun going out, and have been making it plainly evident through their actions in and about the halls. Suzumiya seemed to be glancing at; nay, even staring at couples, especially when they were engaged in public displays of affection, according to my most recent observations."

"So, what, you're saying she's jealous? Does she want a boyfriend or something?" I asked.

Koizumi shook his head. "No, I don't think that's it. After all, the looks weren't jealous, nor longing. They appeared to be more...despising."

What was he, a psychologist? "So she hates couples, then. Big deal. She's made it clear that she doesn't think much of love."

The esper gave his signature shrug. "That could be the case. I'm inclined to think that it isn't, though. Suzumiya didn't seem to particularly loathe couples last year, after all."

I cocked an eyebrow. "So what you're saying is that you have no clue as to why she's like this." He nodded. "Then why are you telling me all of this?"

"I would like your help." Koizumi stated. "These changes only seemed to begin occurring around a week ago. I'm certain that some event that happened around that time was the trigger for Suzumiya's newfound hatred towards couples. I would very much so like to know why, in order to resolve the issue and lower the danger of the Celestials, but I am not terribly close to Suzumiya. Someone who was a lot closer to her than I would have to talk with her about that." He looked at me suggestively.

I returned his look with an incredulous expression. "You want me to talk with HaruhI?"

Koizumi smiled pleasantly. "I would appreciate it very much."

"But I'm not very close to her." I protested. "Most days she barks orders at me and then yells at me when I don't do them right. Compared to me, you're much closer to Haruhi, Mr. Lieutenant Brigade Chief."

Koizumi remained smiling. "I don't think you realize just how close you are to Suzumiya. You recall when she nearly destroyed our world? You were the only person from this world she chose to keep. You clearly mean a great deal to her."

I stared at the table. Great. As usual, he was beating me with evidence. How was I supposed to get out of this? "Look, maybe Haruhi is just—"

"Listen, Kyon." He interrupted me. "I know that you don't want to talk about her problems with Suzumiya, but it is very important. You are, whether you realize it or not, the closest person to Haruhi. I feel like, out of all of the people on this planet, she would only confide her problems in you." Seeing my continued look of disdain, he pressed on. "I'm not asking much. Just try to figure out what is making Suzumiya emotionally unstable, so that we may resolve it. And remember what could happen if she becomes to unhappy..."

I glared at the triumphant esper before me, before sighing reluctantly. "Fine."

Apparently, as per the unfortunate norm, Koizumi was indeed right. During the days following our conversation, I decided to do what he had: observe Haruhi. After all, I wanted to know whether what he was saying was true. That bastard could be pretty nasty at times.

So I watched Haruhi. Not many opportunities arose, as the majority of mine and Haruhi's day was spent stuck in a classroom listening to Mr. Okabe talk instead of around couples. However, whenever we traveled throughout the halls, couples filled them, clearly on a sort of high from the recent Valentine's Day. And indeed, Haruhi seemed to glower at them, clear hatred radiating off of her being. It sent shivers down my spine.

It was clear, then, that Haruhi really did despise couples. Then what was the reason? I guessed that was what I had to find out. How was I going to go about that was the difficult question to answer. I didn't know the first thing about talking out someone's problems, much less a complicated girl like Haruhi Suzumiya. How was I supposed to figure out her issues? I certainly couldn't just go up to her and ask "Hey, why do you hate couples?" I had to be subtle about it; that much was clear. How to do that, though, was something I was still racking my brain trying to figure out.

Then, one day, while sitting in the club room as Haruhi schemed up another plan involving the exploitation of others, Koizumi got up.

"I am terribly sorry, but something involving Nagato, Asahina and myself has arisen. We have to leave now. I hope it does not interfere with our activities." Koizumi only briefly gave looks at Nagato and Asahina, but from just a glance, I could tell he'd already told them about the situation. They were clearly working together, at least temporarily.

"Its fine, for today." Haruhi said. "I'm still thinking of what we could do to lure out aliens, anyway. I wonder what they'd want?"

Koizumi bowed, and then, with only the slightest of nasty grins, winked at me.

Oh. So that's what he was doing. He wanted me to talk to her now. Well, thanks for prepping me for that one.

The three then walked out of the room, leaving Haruhi and I alone. As she clacked away on the keyboard, I sat in silence, my brain testing out different ways to bring up the conversation topic and their corresponding situations. After enough tries, however, I gave up. Screw it. Looked like I was going to have to do it straight-up; no pomp and circumstance.

"Hey, Haruhi." I said, interrupting the relative silence of the room.

"Mm?" she hummed a response, her eyes not leaving the computer.

"Has something happened with you recently?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" she asked nonchalantly, her hands still typing away.

"I don't know," I began. "I just noticed that you seem to get really mad whenever you see a couple. Why us that?"

This caused her to stop. Her fingers hovered above the keyboard, an unreadable expression on her face. "W...no. No. Why would you think that?"

I casually shrugged. Inside, however, I was grinning triumphantly. Clearly I was getting somewhere. I just had to keep pushing forward. I knew Haruhi was going to be a tough egg to crack. "It's just what I've been noticing. Like, whenever we pass by two people holding hands in the hallway, you always seem to tense up and glare daggers at them."

Haruhi's mouth moved without sound, as she tried to find words. "I...I do?"

I nodded. "Yup. I was just wondering why that is?"

Haruhi's strange new expression of defensiveness was immediately replaced by her annoyed expression, the one she used most often around 'ignorant classmates'. "Even if that was the case, which I'm fairly certain it isn't, I wouldn't just go around telling people about my internal reasoning, even if they were members of the brigade. They're internal for a reason."

I sighed. "Alright, fine." I decided it would be best not to press her. If I did, she would get suspicious. It seemed I was going to have to try again some other time.

As Haruhi and I reverted into our former silence, I thought of my most recent one-on-one conversation with Koizumi. He'd said that I was the closest to Haruhi out of anyone. I frowned. How was that possible? I knew that Haruhi thought of me as the closest person to her, at least subconsciously, thanks to the whole 'closed space world recreation' ordeal that happened so long ago. Still, though, even knowing that, I certainly didn't feel like I was the closest to Haruhi. I scowled as I imagined Koizumi's forever smiling face. The next time I saw him, I was going to have to try to get him to talk with Haruhi instead. After all, out of all of us, he was the most psychoanalytical. I sighed. You know, one day Koizumi should just _try_ having a serious conversation with Haruhi. At the very least, it wouldn't turn out how he'd like it to. I'd love to see frustration on his seemingly eternally pleasant face.

I thought about this for the rest of the meeting, until it was time to leave. I didn't run into Nagato, Asahina, or even Koizumi, and though I'd have liked to have attempted coercing him into taking over my duties as Haruhi's secret shrink, I was just happy not to have to worry about any of them for once. Well, I guess I wouldn't mind seeing Asahina.

I made my way home, and as the previous conversation topic, that being couples, was still fresh in my mind, somehow I found it wandering through my memories. I recalled that saying that my mom always said.

And that is why I brought up the topic of romance earlier. Quite long-winded and convoluted for something so insignificant, but I'll say this: as I thought about the phrase my mom always said, I couldn't help but feel like it was important in some way. Maybe I'd find out sometime in the near future; maybe in the far. Regardless, I knew it had a role to play.

Believe me, though, I would have loved to say that Haruhi's emotional state returned to normal, and that life went on as usual, but unfortunately that wasn't what happened. After all, when you're in the SOS Brigade, normal simply isn't something that happens.

It turned out that I would be getting hints as to the reasoning by Haruhi's unexplained hatred towards couples sooner than I expected. After heading to school the next day, sitting through my classes while Haruhi slept behind me, and listening to Haruhi's latest speech on how she planned on attracting aliens, I began to head home as usual. However, as we were all leaving at the same time, I ended up walking alongside Mikuru Asahina.

I wondered whether Koizumi had talked to her and Nagato about the newest Haruhi dilemma. I figured, what was the harm in asking? Even if Koizumi hadn't explained it to them, surely elaborating on it myself wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. I peered behind me, checking to see if Haruhi was near enough to overhear us. Luckily, she seemed to be out of sight. I turned back to Asahina. "Say, Asahina...remember how yesterday, you, Koizumi and Nagato left Haruhi and I alone in the club room together?"

Asahina glanced at me with curiosity in her big eyes. "Yes?"

"Well, I was just wondering whether you'd been told why you had to do that."

Asahina nodded. "Oh, don't worry, Kyon. Koizumi-kun explained everything to me. I know about Suzumiya's wavering emotions. By the way, what happened while we were gone?"

I shrugged. Nothing much, really. It was surprising to me that I seemed to be the one who was fuelling the conversation. Usually Haruhi was the more talkative one, I told her.

Asahina nodded pensively. "I suppose it all has to do with how Suzumiya's been acting lately. I just wonder why it's happening."

A thought suddenly struck me. Asahina wasn't exactly the most perceptive or proactive person. I wonder if she'd thought about if that far? "Asahina, have you given thought as to why Haruhi's acting this way? Y'know, like an event or something that triggered this in her?" I recalled Koizumi stating that something must have happened around a week ago, or eight days ago at this point. While neither he nor I were able to come up with anything that might have caused the change in Haruhi, there was no saying whether somebody else hadn't. Maybe Asahina had an idea tucked away in her brain somewhere.

Her eyebrows knitted in thought, Asahina stared at the floor as we walked. After a good few seconds, her eyes suddenly lit up, and she turned to me eagerly. "Yes, there was something! It was around a week ago."

"Go on," I urged.

"Well, after school, Suzumiya said that she had wanted to come to my house to visit. I told her that I already had plans with Tsuruya at her place, though. But then she said that she'd just come with me to Tsuruya's instead! So we went there, and once we arrived, we did all the normal things the three of us usually do. Then, somehow in our conversation, we got to talking about boys, and Tsuruya mentioned having a boyfriend."

I blinked. Wait, what? "Tsuruya's got a boyfriend? Since when?"

"Well, that's what I was gonna get to."Asahina said. "Anyway, Haruhi reacted similarly to you, though she seemed a bit mad about it. Apparently, according to Tsuruya, she just started going out with him a few days prior. We ended up moving away from that conversation topic fairly quickly, but Suzumiya seemed to be tense and lost in thought the rest if the visit."

I waited to see if Asahina was finished. "So what you're saying is, Haruhi doesn't like couples because Tsuruya has a boyfriend? Why?"

Asahina stared at the floor as she walked, her eyes narrowing in thought. "I suppose it's because Suzumiya feels protective of Tsuruya. It's like Tsuruya's interacted with the Brigade enough to basically be a member in Suzumiya's eyes. Maybe she just feels like she wants to protect her from a boyfriend who might hurt her. At least, that's what I would guess."

Wow. That was quite the analysis. Who knew Asahina could be so psychoanalytical? Though, it was unreasonable to assume anything of Haruhi. She'd proven our theories wrong before. But Asahina's theory did seem to make a lot of sense. How did she manage to formulate it, I asked.

"Well, I just thought about how I might react if you or Koizumi got a girlfriend." Asahina smiled up at me.

I was in heaven. To think that Asahina of all people wanted to protect me (well, and Koizumi, but I'll ignore that for now) from a potentially hurtful girlfriend was enough to give me long-lasting bliss. And she had that adorable smile.

"Wait a sec," I said, a thought dawning on me. "Don't _you_ feel protective of Tsuruya, Asahina?"

Asahina looked away from me sadly. "I will admit that I do, a little, but it doesn't matter. As a time traveller, I can't interfere with anything like that, and I most certainly can't get attached like that to others."

Sheesh. Being a time traveller must suck. Although, I guessed I'd already been through something like that, when Asahina the Elder got me and her younger self to go errand running to establish the fate of the future. Ah, I remembered it all too well. It was bad enough knowing what was going to come, but having to do seemingly arbitrary chores for unknown reasons probably took the cake for worst reason to be a time traveller. Oh well. At least Asahina knew why she was here.

I regarded Asahina pensively. "Say, Asahina...do you think I could go see Tsuruya right now?"

"About her boyfriend? Yeah, I'm pretty sure she's free today." Asahina said, before chuckling. "But Kyon, you know you don't have to ask my permission to go to Tsuruya's place. I'm not her father."

I laughed sheepishly. "Ah, sorry...I guess I just wanted to know whether today would work fine or not. You know, cause you're her best friend and all..."

Asahina put a playful finger to my lips. "Kyon. Just go already."

Man, she was adorable, and especially so when she was confident. Not that I disliked the timid Asahina. I'd say that both had their perks.

"Okay, Asahina." I said determinedly. Then, with the location of Tsuruya's massive mansion in my mind, I ran towards the school's exit. I turned back to wave to Asahina just before I reached the end of the shoe lockers. "See you!" I called, earning a polite wave from Asahina.

My feet naturally began making their way to Tsuruya's as I thought about her gigantic home. It must have been nice to get to live someplace so huge. My house was a flower in comparison to Tsuruya's redwood.

Now was not the time, however, to think about the square footage of compared housings. I had the more pressing matter of Tsuruya's boyfriend to worry about. If he truly was the source of Haruhu's emotional instability, then all I had to do was get him and Tsuruya to break up, right? But it would be more complicated than that. First off, it wasn't like anything I'd ever done with, say, Nagato. Nagato would just do most anything I asked her if she knew it was for Haruhi's sake. But Tsuruya was in the dark. She had no idea that it was crucial to satisfy Haruhi. So breaking her and her boyfriend up wouldn't be as simple as just saying that Haruhi doesn't like the idea of her having a boyfriend. I would have to get them to do it through other means.

Ah, but I wasn't a relationship-destroyer. I didn't want to break the two of them up just to satisfy Haruhi. After all, this was Tsuruya I was messing with, not just Haruhi. Argh, why did I have to be the one to solve Haruhi's problems for her? I wish Koizumi would stop being so damn vague and just tell me why he couldn't do it, plain and simple. He could at least help me out.

I was nearing Tsuruya's place. It was time to focus on the present. I'd worry about Haruhi and Koizumi after I talked with Tsuruya. I rung the door bell.

Wait a minute. Was her boyfriend there with her?

A buzz came through the speaker next to the doorbell. "Kyon? Is that you?" Tsuruya's familiar, exuberant voice met my ears.

"Yeah. I hope I'm not disturbing you. Could I come in?"

"Sure!" Tsuruya said before the speaker shut off. Then, I was let into the massive Tsuruya mansion, where I was greeted by the SOS Brigade's favourite partner in mischief.

"Hey, Kyon!" Tsuruya greeted me with a proud grin and a vigorous wave. "What brings you to my humble abode? I hope Mikuru didn't say anything weird. It's not about my new boyfriend, is it?"

"Well, about that..." I said sheepishly as I scratched my neck. Darn. How did Tsuruya figure out why I came here so quickly? I guess Asahina was talking a lot about her boyfriend...I think? Maybe because of her duty as a Haruhi observer. "Tsuruya, I'm not sure whether you're cool with talking about it or not, but I do actually need to talk with you about him. Its really important."

Tsuruya's smile faltered somewhat, but she brightened immediately and turned on her heel. "Fine. I'm not sure what your situation is that it's really important for you to talk about my boyfriend with me, but I'm sure you have your reasons. Follow me; I'll have us served some tea." Heh. It was like I was back at the club room, except those serving my tea were getting paid.

As I followed behind Tsuruya, I smiled. She always knew when to refrain from pressing hard on a subject, and she was cool with talking about topics she didn't necessarily want to talk about, just because her underclassman said it was important. It made me proud to have her as my upperclassman.

Tsuruya brought me into a traditional Japanese-style room, and sat down across from me at the table. A servant with a teapot and two cups walked in, set down the cups, filled them with tea and left with the pot. "So?" Tsuruya said, a cheery smile on her lips as she brought the cup to her mouth. "What about my boyfriend do you need to talk about?"

I took a deep breath in, measuring my next words. I couldn't let Tsuruya know who Haruhi truly was, but I still needed to find out all I could about Tsuruya's new boyfriend. Maybe the person that he was was the reason Haruhi was suddenly despising couples.

"Tsuruya, what's your boyfriend like?" I asked.

Tsuruta giggled. "Gee, Kyon, how straightforward. I didn't realize you swung that way. Trying to find out if he's worth stealing from me, are you?"

I sighed. Definitely not. I should have hoped that all of my fawning over Asahina would have proven 'which way I swung'. I just wanted to know whether he was a straight-laced kind of guy or a laid-back, cool guy, I told her.

"Well, I wouldn't say he's either of those things. Honestly, he's more of a sleazeball than anything. He's pretty vulgar, and kind of rude to others."

What? Why would she want to go out with that kind of a guy, I asked.

"Well, that may be the way he is, but those aren't the reasons I like him. I like him because underneath all the vulgarity and the rudeness, he's a really sweet, nice, charming guy who I believe really likes me back. I mean, if you compared the moments when we're around others to when we're alone, you'd think he was an entirely different person."

"I hope he still treats you right when you're around others, though," I said concernedly.

"Oh, he does." Tsuruya said heartily. "He always seems to put me over everything that it's crazy. But it just goes to show just how much he genuinely likes me. Besides, it's not like some guy who's looking to cheat on me the first chance he gets is going to be my boyfriend. My family's far too overprotective for that. They thoroughly examined him before he was approved to be my boyfriend."

"Ah, I see," I responded naturally. Sheesh, Tsuruya's family 'examined' him? I wonder what that entailed. "Anyway, Tsuruya, you told Haruhi about your new boyfriend a few days ago, correct?"

Tsuruya nodded.

"Did you notice any changes in her after you told her about him?"

Tsuruya brought her thumb and forefinger to cup her chin pensively as she looked upwards in thought. "Well...I'm not the most observant person in the world, but as you know, I do my best to make others as happy as possible. And after I told Haruhi about my boyfriend, she _did_ end up a little tense, now that you mention it. Kyon, are you saying Haruhi's unhappy because of my boyfriend?"

Well, it was really only a best guess at this point. I couldn't really be entirely sure why Haruhi was upset. She typically hid her true feelings from others. That being said, I did want to know whether Tsuruya had said anything about what her boyfriend was like, I told her.

"Well, I did give a brief summary of his personality, but mostly I just showed them a video I took on my phone with him!" Tsuruya said, pulling out her phone on cue. I watched as her thumb swept across the screen several times over, before tapping it decisively and holding the screen up to me.

A video on the screen began playing. Tsuruya and a guy with scruffy hair and poor posture filled the screen, with Tsuruya's arm around the guy's shoulder and the guy's hand cupping Tsuruya's hip. Tsuruya had an expression of cheerfulness while the guy had one of nonchalant contentment. They both stared through the screen at me.

"Hey, whoever is watching this!" The digital Tsuruya said exuberantly as she brought the phone closer to her and the guy. "This is my new boyfriend! Say hello!"

"Hey," The guy said with a considerably more reserved tone in comparison to the girl next to him. "This is _my_ girlfriend. We're going out!"

"You bet we are!" Tsuruya said happily. "Tell the audience how we met!"

"Well, I was on a date with, like, the fifteenth girl that month, and we'd met on a dating site." The guy explained, apathy entering his tone of voice. "Anyway, as the date wore on, I began thinking, 'Wow, this girl is really, really boring. Come to think of it, pretty much all the girls I've dated so far have been boring. Are all girls this boring?' And then, as I was about to leave the cafe we'd been having our date at, I accidentally bumped into Tsuruya. We ended up starting a conversation, and one thing lead to another." The guy smirked, tightening his grip on Tsuruya. "I can now successfully say that not all girls are completely boring!"

The digital Tsuruya grinned. "Alright, everyone, byyyyyeeeee!"

The video stopped, and Tsuruya pulled the phone away, returning it to her pocket. "So? Does that give you a decent idea of what my boyfriend's like?"

I grimaced. While I had to admit he did look like he cared for Tsuruya, his attitude towards other girls was alarming. Was Tsuruya really sure about her choice of boyfriend?

"You just haven't seen him for who he truly is," Tsuruya explained. "I do have to admit, though, this video probably wasn't the best thing to show Haruhi as a first impression. After all, he really shows off his condescending side here. But trust me, he's a total sweetheart underneath it all."

"Alright, alright," I said, holding my hands up defensively. "I believe you. I'm just not sure Haruhi does. I don't know if she's ever told you her opinions on love before, but..." Yeah, love wasn't exactly something Haruhi held in high regard. It didn't help that all the guys she'd dated had been deemed boring by her, though. But surely Haruhi wasn't condemning Tsuruya's boyfriend just because she didn't think much of love. After all, when she had asked about whether Koizumi had had plans with his girlfriend during the meeting during the previous December, his fake complaint about not having any wasn't met by a reprimanding Haruhi. No, this case was a unique one to be certain.

"Well, I don't believe she has, but from what I can tell, she's not much of a fan, right?" Tsuruya hypothesized.

"No." I confirmed. I got up, dusting off my pant legs. "Thanks for having me, Tsuruya. You've been a big help."

"No problem, Kyon!" Tsuruya said cheerfully as she stood up as well. "Anything for Haruhi and my favourite underclassman!"

I smiled at her comment. Even though it was coming from Tsuruya, who said that sort of thing every day, I still enjoyed the compliment. And so, with a newfound feeling of revival, I headed out of the Tsuruya mansion. I had a lot to tell Koizumi. Even though I disliked our talks, I knew this one would be necessary.

Dammit, Haruhi. Why are you so frustrating?

 **Hey, one and all! Welcome to my second fanfic. This time I decided to go for Haruhi Suzumiya.**

 **You see, I felt like all the HaruKyon fics out there weren't capturing their relationship and progression towards becoming a couple the way they should have. So I decided to step up to the task!**

 **This fanfic will probably consist of larger chapters than my first one. I'm not sure how long it'll be, but I can assure a slow build on the main pairing (HaruKyon, in case that wasn't clear).**

 **Please comment and fav, and I'll see you next time!**


	2. Chapter 2: The Mission

I woke up slowly, my eyelids barely drifting open as the sound of purring filled my left ear. A scratchy tongue then slid across my cheek, bringing me fully into consciousness. I sat upright in bed, my mind struggling to function again.

Oh yeah, Tsuruya's got a boyfriend.

With this thought now taking precedence in my brain, I pulled Shamisen off of my lap, just as my sister jovially ran into my room uninvited and proceeded to grab him off the ground to hug and smother him wildly. Of course she came in without knocking. Why would she?

Whatever. I had much more on my mind than my little sister and her best friend the cat. I had completely forgotten all about Tsuruya, actually, but I guess that's what sleep does, huh? Regardless, I knew I had to do something with this information. Should I bring it up with Haruhi? Talk to her like Koizumi wanted? No. The only reason I was talking to her about that in the first place was because we were looking for the reason why she hated couples. I'd be talking to her for no reason if I did that now.

But then what should I do with this new information? I didn't just get it for nothing. Boy, what was the entire reason for doing all of this, again? Hmm...that's right, Haruhi was becoming emotionally unstable, and the SOS Brigade's resident esper wanted me to talk to Haruhi to find out why. Well, I had the why now. But what should I do with it? Well, Koizumi wanted the info—I figured he should have it.

So, without waiting until I got to see him during the Brigade meeting after school, I headed straight for Class 1-9 as soon as lunch rolled around, giving Kunikida and Taniguchi some half-assed excuse as I left the classroom. I couldn't wait until the meeting. This sort of information was such that it'd be prudent if it was given to Koizumi as soon as possible, rather than later. Besides, I'd have to wait until after the actual meeting was over, and then I'd be getting annoyed.

I strode swiftly through the halls, quickly finding Class 1-9's door. Blocking the doorway, I scanned the various faces in and about the room. There he was. Koizumi stopped in the middle of swinging his bag over his shoulder and locked eyes with me. I'm not sure, but I guess he saw the conviction within me. He knew that I needed to talk _then_.

"Koizumi," I said, attempting to communicate non-verbally.

He nodded almost unnoticeably, kind of mimicking Nagato, and walked past me. "We'll talk elsewhere. Come."

I followed him without hesitation. Don't get me wrong; I don't like taking orders from this guy, but as I said, the situation called for swift action. So, I kept pace behind Koizumi as he led me towards the exit, before trailing the perimeter of the school and coming to stop at the back. It was deserted. Ideal for talking about Haruhi.

"So," said Koizumi, as soon as he'd confirmed there were no eavesdroppers. "What is it? Did you manage to shed some light on our predicament?"

I'd say so. I explained to Koizumi all that had happened the previous day, from talking to Asahina to visiting Tsuruya's house to learning about her boyfriend. I also told him about my suspicions on Haruhi's opinions regarding her boyfriend.

After I was finished, Koizumi nodded slowly. "Alright. So, to sum it up: Tsuruya has a new boyfriend, one who seems like a womanizer and a scumbag who would likely dump Tsuruya the first chance he got. Suzumiya feels that he is an inappropriate boyfriend based on her first impression despite the fact that he in reality isn't, and is in fact truly devoted to Tsuruya. So Suzumiya has unwittingly developed a bias against couples in general as she feels a sense of protection for Tsuruya. Do I have that correct?"

For the most part. I'd made some assumptions on Haruhu's opinions and views on the whole thing, but honestly, what else could it be?

Koizumi nodded. "Indeed. It would be odd if those assumptions turned out to be wrong. And as I cannot think of another reason to explain the hatred that also fits with the evidence you've already given me, I'd say that you've reached a real milestone. Lucky you, Kyon. It appears that you don't have to talk with Suzumiya anymore."

I gasped, relief working its way into the inhalation. "I don't? Oh, thank goodness." I was absolutely done with talking to Haruhi. I know I only did it once, but…whatever. I don't want to have to do that again.

"No," said Koizumi, shaking his head. "Talking to her at this point wouldn't make sense. After all, we now know the reason for her sudden hatred towards couples. It would be a pointless and time-consuming effort."

"S…so I'm done now?" I exclaimed. "I don't have to put up with Haruhi's unreasonable subconscious?"

Koizumi's nasty pleasant smile returned to his face. "Well, I didn't say that. Unfortunately, Kyon, our troubles do not end here. We have only solved half of the equation. We know the cause of the problem. The next action is the resolution."

Resolution? Like solving the issue of Haruhi hatred for couples?

"Precisely that. It will be a lot easier to do, though, now that we know why it is happening. We must use that to our advantage, to put a stop to Suzumiya's hatred."

Yeah, 'cause that'll be easy. Come on; the girl's as stubborn as a mountain. "So if the cause of the problem is rooted in Tsuruya's boyfriend, then the most logical step would be to break them up. Haruhi would then quickly forget about the matter entirely, and return to a normal, emotionally-stabilized state."

"Correct."

"Rgh, but I don't want to do that!" I cried frustratedly. "Tsuruya's a friend, and she seems really happy about her new boyfriend. I can't take that away from her!"

"I agree,"

"S…so then what do we do?" I asked, bewildered.

Koizumi sighed. "Well, you see the conflict. We can either take the simple and easy route of breaking up Tsuruya and her boyfriend, the only consequence being a heartbroken Tsuruya; or we can search for another solution that doesn't involve breaking Tsuruya's heart. Now, Kyon, which would you choose?"

"The second one." I responded almost immediately.

"I expected as much." Koizumi nodded. "Well, I do have one idea. Suzumiya merely does not see the good in Tsuruya's boyfriend, which is preventing her from seeing the good in all other couples. So, all we need to do would be to show her the good qualities of her boyfriend."

"Um…but wouldn't Haruhi chase him with whatever object was nearest to her just upon seeing him, if she really hates him that bad?" I asked.

Koizumi simply remained smiling. "There is a very simple solution. You recall Suzumiya's most recent attempt to discover the existence of the supernatural, I hope." Wait, was he talking about… "Yes, Kyon. In order to eradicate Suzumiya's hatred towards couples, we shall demonstrate the good aspects of Tsuruya's boyfriend through a session of Suzumiya's very own Couples' Counselling services."

I see. So he was planning on getting the two of them to go to Haruhi's counselling thing so that she'd see that Tsuruya's boyfriend wasn't really all that bad. But wait; there was still a problem. "Hold on. What if Tsuruya and her boyfriend don't want to come? I mean, it's not like we can force them, even if it is for Haruhi."

"Oh, but that is precisely why Tsuruya is guaranteed to come," said Koizumi nastily. "You of all people know that Tsuruya always does her best to make others happy. If we tell her that this is for Suzumiya's happiness, which isn't even truly a lie, she'll not hesitate to agree to go. And her boyfriend, being as devoted as you say he is supposed to be, will go along with it as well."

That might have been a good plan, nasty though it was, but there was another issue I couldn't ignore. If Haruhi really did have this huge hatred of couples, and especially of this guy, wouldn't she target him with her "counselling"? I had no trouble imagining Haruhi glaring daggers at the poor guy while she nailed him with specifically-worded, incriminating questions that'd make me shiver.

"Oh, I'm sure she will. Evidently some preparing will need to be done beforehand. I will be certain to let Tsuruya know that her boyfriend will require some practice in handling those sorts of questions. But I do have another idea which I think will help the process run smoother. Kyon, I think you should counsel with Haruhi."

Wait, what?

I stared at him incredulously. "You want me to sit beside Haruhi, asking Tsuruya and her boyfriend counselling-type questions? Why? I don't know a thing about that! You're the psychoanalytical one, anyway!"

"Counselling skills won't be necessary." Koizumi assured me. "Simply ask questions that sound like something a counsellor might ask, that will simultaneously lead to answers and interactions that will prove to Suzumiya that Tsuruya's boyfriend is a good person."

"Rgh, why do I have to do this?!" I cried. "As per usual, _I've_ been doing all the work! Why don't you try doing something for once, huh?"

"Kyon, you're the only one who'll be able to convince Suzumiya to let you sit beside her as a counsellor. As you know, she takes her duties as Brigade Chief very seriously. I expect that that coupled with the likely fact that she will be wanting to take complete control over the counselling process will mean that only you, the closest person to Suzumiya, will be able to talk her into letting you do it with her."

Oh, shut up with all your "I'm the closest person to Haruhi" crap. I'm tired of it. You know, sometimes I think that he just gives me that so he doesn't have to do it. I guess I understand. I mean, if I were dealing with Haruhi's stress all the time, I'd probably want to shirk my duties onto someone else, too. "Fine," I sighed reluctantly. "I'll ask her."

Koizumi's smile brightened. "Wonderful! Kyon, you have my thanks." He said, bowing. "Tell you what. Today, after school, during the Brigade meeting, why don't you pull Suzumiya aside and discuss the plans with her? I'll be sure to inform Tsuruya of the situation through text messages sent throughout the day."

Huh? "Wait, you're not going to make me talk to Tsuruya as well?" This was odd. Usually he'd just make me do everything, like he did just yesterday. Man, I don't know how he'd survive without me. That being said, it's a nice change of pace to see him pulling his weight.

"No, no," Koizumi shook his hands dismissively. "It wouldn't be fair to give you all of the tasks. I shall take responsibility for making sure Tsuruya and her boyfriend are both on board. All you have to do is convince Suzumiya to let you help her."

That's all, huh?

The few periods in between lunch and the meeting whizzed by, so much so that I couldn't tell you a single topic of conversation that came up between Kunikida, Taniguchi, and I. It made sense. I had to face the daunting task few men dared attempting: persuading Haruhi. After all, she was an unmoving mountain; the most stubborn person I'd ever met. Despite what Koizumi said of our relationship, I wasn't so inclined to believe that a few simple sentences would get her to relinquish control of counselling duties, even just a little.

Therefore, by the time my feet had naturally carried me to the Literature Club room at the end of the day, I'd already gone through the final iteration of my prepared speech. I was gonna knock Haruhi's socks off.

Koizumi, Asahina, Yuki, and, of course, Haruhi were all gathered about the thin metal table in the center if the room. My eyes locked firmly onto Haruhi. I took a deep breath. Alright. This was it. Time to shine. I stride confidently into the room, stopped at Haruhi's side.

Cupping a hand around my mouth secretively, I began to whisper into Haruhi's ear. "Haruhi, I have an idea—"

"Whoa, Kyon, no need to breath into my ear like that!" Haruhi said, shoving me away from her. "And if it's something you need to whisper to me about, then tell us all. We're the SOS Brigade, after all. We stick together."

Uh…okay. I mean, I guess it wouldn't really hurt. "Fine. See, I was just thinking about the whole couples' counselling thing, and I found myself getting highly intrigued by it. So, I was just wondering if I could maybe join you for the next person we counsel." Granted, we hadn't actually had a couple visit us as of yet, but still.

Haruhi looked skeptical. Uh oh. This was riding on her agreeing. Damn you, Koizumi! I knew this wouldn't work!

"Hmm…I dunno, Kyon. Are you really up to the task?" she said jokingly, putting on the humorous of a teacher advising her student. "I warn you, the duties of a counsellor are nothing to scoff at. It will certainly be a feat."

I couldn't help but smile at this rare instance of a joke from Haruhi. Bowing low, I put on a grateful voice. "I am ready, master!"

Haruhi grinned. "Great! Alright, I'll let you join me next time."

Nice! I'd done it. And with a back and forth joke between Haruhi and I. Boy, it wasn't often I got to see Haruhi joke. A rarity, to say the least. Kind of surprising that she was so willing. Well, I guess it helped that she didn't know that Tsuruya and her boyfriend would be coming. No doubt she'd have been way more strict on me.

Suddenly, Koizumi spoke up. "Say, I think you may have a candidate for a couple in need of counselling." Koizumi said, holding up his phone. "Tsuruya just texted me that she thinks her relationship with her boyfriend is becoming strained. Apparently, they're having a date tonight, but she's predicting it'll go poorly. She told me she's going to take up your services tomorrow."

What the—?! Was he just bluffing, or was that actually happening? Wait, what was I saying. Of course their relationship wasn't strained. Tsuruya had made that all too clear. But did they actually have a date tonight? I assumed they must. Why else would Koizumi bother to make up something like that?

Haruhi seemed newly alert. Gee, I wondered why. She looked at Koizumi's phone, and then back at me. "Kyon, this is going to be much more interesting than a simple matter of counselling. They're going on a date tonight. This is the perfect opportunity to spy on them! We can find out if her boyfriend's actually an alien or not!"

What? An alien? Why on Earth would he be an alien, I asked her incredulously.

"I have been studying him, as Tsuruya is a dear friend of the Brigade." Haruhi stated plainly. "I have come across several pieces of evidence to support the claim that he is indeed an extraterrestrial. But if we spy on him, we may get undeniable truth!"

Undeniable truth? "Look, if you want to find out if he's an alien, why don't you just wait until tomorrow when they come in for counselling? You can find out there, without having to bother with spying."

Haruhi scoffed at me. "Please. If he is an alien, which I'm pretty sure is the case, it's not like he's gonna just drop his guard when we're across a table from him. He'll be on full defense, doing whatever he can to evade detection. However, if we spy on him, we may catch him with his guard down, and find some definitive proof."

So that's why she wanted to spy on Tsuruya and her boyfriend? So she could figure out whether he was an alien or not?

"Not 'or not', Kyon." Haruhi interjected, making air quotation with her fingers. "He's definitely an alien. This will just be confirmation."

"And that's why you want to spy on them?" I asked, at this point becoming numb to Haruhi's nonsensical schemes. "And you want me to do it with you? Why? Just do you know, I'm no spy. All I would do would just be accidentally tipping Tsuruya off to our presence."

Haruhi scowled at me. "Oh, come on, Kyon! What happened to that willingness and spirit from earlier? You wanted to help me out with counselling; well now you get to help me out with spying!"

Uh, yeah, they're two entirely different things. But regardless, what was I supposed to do? Go along with Haruhi's plot? Back out? Actually, I bet Haruhi wasn't going to even let me back out. Still, I needed some guidance. I shot a discreet glance at Koizumi. Catching it, he gave a tiny nod that rivaled those of our own Yuki Nagato. I guess that meant to agree.

"Alright, I'll come." I said with a tone of reluctance.

Haruhi grinned. "Well, of course you're gonna come! There wasn't even a choice!" I figured that much. Haruhi turned towards Koizumi. "Koizumi, when is her date going to be?"

Koizumi checked his phone. "Hmm…tonight at 6:30."

Haruhi clapped her hands together. "Great! Alright, meeting adjourned. Kyon, meet up at the train station with me at 6:15, and wear something inconspicuous. And make sure you're not late as usual!" Haruhi added as she bolted out the door. Sheesh. She needed to take a break, or something. Oh, who am I kidding? Haruhi is always on full blast.

I exchanged a glance with Koizumi, and sat down at the table in my seat. I glanced at Asahina's expression, then Nagato's. The timid maid looked somewhat curious. The silent bookworm looked emotionless as ever. I wondered what they made of the situation. Had Koizumi yet filled them in on what was happening with Haruhi?

"It seems our plans have changed." Koizumi suddenly broke the silence.

I noticed Asahina flinch. "Ah, um, what plans?" she asked shyly.

I didn't really feel like elaborating, and apparently neither did Koizumi, as we both ignored her question. I frowned pensively. "What should we do, then?"

Koizumi's pleasant smile was piercing. "Well, follow Suzumiya's orders, of course. What else?"

I guess that did make sense. After all, we didn't need her to be any more annoyed than she already was. "Okay." We sat in silence for a half-minute more, before I spoke up again. "So is Tsuruya actually having a date, or did you set that up so Haruhi could spy on her with me?"

He tilted his head ever so slightly. "Well, considering the fact that you brought me your lead only earlier today, I, were I in your shoes, would find it unlikely that I'd have set up something along these lines, without even knowing that it would be something Suzumiya would want."

Well, I don't know. He could be a pretty quick and manipulative bastard when he wanted to be. Still, I had to agree with him, at least partially. As Koizumi himself has stated, he doesn't know what Haruhi's thinking, or at least not as well as me. For him to have set up a fake date this elaborate in such a short period of time for Haruhi when he didn't even know she wanted it was laughable for how improbable that that outcome was.

"Fine, then. So you didn't set it up. Why'd Haruhi want to spy on Tsuruya, then? I thought you said she had enough common sense to know that aliens don't exist. Surely she must realize that he actually isn't an alien." I reminded him.

"But she does make us go on hunts for the supernatural on weekends." Asahina said, joining in on the conversation. "It then doesn't seem so strange that she thinks he's an alien."

"Indeed," Koizumi agreed. He returned his smile to me. "But surely you realize, Kyon, why she's actually doing this. Whether she truly believes that Tsuruya's boyfriend is indeed an alien or not is irrelevant. No, the true reason she has decided to spy on them is to see their relationship first-hand. She wants to know for certain that he isn't treating Tsuruya terribly."

I nodded. That made sense. Haruhi did value Tsuruya a lot. She would definitely want to keep her safe from a scumbag boyfriend. She must be wanting to get a read on this guy. See what's the deal with him. And, in truth, I kind of wanted to, too. I just didn't think that spying was the most logical option. But, then again, it's Haruhi. Since when does she do things the normal way?

"Hey, Koizumi." I asked, earning a slight change in his facial expression. "One last question. Why does Haruhi want to spy with me? Why not everyone else, too? Or just her?"

Koizumi looked to the side pensively. "Well, I imagine it's in part because five people spying at once would definitely give away our position. But I suspect it's mainly due to the fact that you're you, and Haruhi values that above all else."

Really. I seriously doubted she thought of me that highly.

"Well, at any rate," Koizumi went on, "I expect you'll get some more definite answers later tonight."

I showed up at the train station wearing all black. Black hoodie, black shirt underneath, black jeans, black shoes with black socks. I even put sunglasses on. If this didn't scream "inconspicuous", then I didn't know what did.

Haruhi appeared, with an expression that suggested she'd been wandering around looking for me for a while. She was wearing very casual clothes: a nice jacket over a blue t-shirt, complete with a skirt and boots. While casual, it also was incredibly stylish. Only Haruhi could pull off the mixed look.

Upon finally finding me, her brow lowered, and her eyes narrowed. Uh oh. Had I been keeping her waiting for that long? I hoped not. She'd probably make me give _her_ money as a sort of twisted tip in addition to my typical deposit at the café. Man. She'd wring my wallet dry by the end of the semester. Whatever; there was no avoiding the wrath of Haruhi Suzumiya. Might as well get it over with. I put on a stoic expression and walked up to meet her.

"Kyon!" Haruhi shouted angrily. She pointed at her watch vigorously. "It's already five past when we were supposed to meet up! I've been waiting here for, like, twenty minutes!"

"Oh, come on, five minutes isn't so…" My voice trailed off. "Wait, you were waiting for me since six? Why would you do that? We were supposed to meet up at 6:15, right?"

She simply scoffed. "That's simple. I didn't bring my wallet!"

Ah. So she was planning on having me pay again.

"And you'd better tip our waiter extra this time!" Haruhi said assertively. "For making me wait so long!"

Wow. Two for two. Though to be fair, I'd predicted the extra cash would go to Haruhi herself, not the waiter. Oh, well. Close enough.

"So," I said, trying to move away from the issue of my rising financial struggles, "where are we headed to first? Where are Tsuruya and her boyfriend?" I whirled my head about as though searching for them for effect.

"Koizumi said that they're planning on walking from the diner to the karaoke place. That means we should get a booth at the diner to inconspicuously watch them. We'll have to ask for specific seating, though." Haruhi stretched out one foot as though she was going to start walking, but stopped suddenly and swept her eyes up and down my body. "Speaking of inconspicuous, what are you wearing?"

I looked down at my all-black outfit, then at Haruhi. "What? You told me to dress inconspicuously!"

"Yeah. I did." Haruhi said, frustrated. "That, though, is not inconspicuous. That says 'Oh, look at me, I want to be noticed by everyone because I'm wearing entirely one colour and that's some thing a normal human being would never do!'."

Wow. Way to lay it on thick, Haruhi.

"Or it says you have a poor fashion sense." Haruhi added.

I sighed. "Whatever. Let's just get going. Which diner was it?"

We headed out in the direction of the diner, Haruhi practically dragging me along at her breakneck walking speed. Well, it's to be expected. When Haruhi sets her mind to something, she really sets her mind to it. As well as her feet.

We made it to the diner. Turns out it was really fancy. Either Tsuruya was paying for the meal, or her boyfriend was just as rich as she was. I'd have to dock him points for not paying regardless, though. Chivalry is important. If I were taking a girl out on a date, I'd definitely pay for her food, even if it was from a super fancy diner like this. Though, I guess thanks to Haruhi, I was already used to spending large amounts of money.

We headed in, and Haruhi got us a booth. Luckily, no moving was required. We were in a position that allowed us to see Tsuruya's boyfriend head-on, with the back of Tsuruya's head visible just in front of him. I briefly panicked as I noticed he could totally see us, but then I realized he didn't know what either of us looked like.

As Haruhi glared at him, I turned my gaze to her instead of them. "So, what l you be having?" I asked, flipping through the menu. Whoa; they had a lot of expensive stuff. I didn't see a thing that the cash in my wallet at the moment could pay for.

"We're not actually ordering anything," Haruhi said impatiently. "This is a diner for rich people, after all. We don't have the kind of cash to actually get anything." She then mischievously raised an eyebrow. "Unless you did bring that much money…"

"No." I said firmly.

She sighed, leaning back. "Yeah, I figured that much. Tell you what, we'll order some waters, then." Wow. She put it in such a way that it sounded like we were lucky to be getting water. I'm not _that_ poor, Haruhi.

After we ordered a glass of water each, Haruhi returned to full-on spy mode. Pulling the menu up so that it covered the majority of her face, she shot daggers over the top of the laminated piece of paper straight at Tsuruya's boyfriend. I watched her watching them. Her eyes; they were different than normal. Normally they had this wondrous glee in them; this desire to forge ahead and to discover new things, and to do so with friends. Now, though, her eyes were cold and calculating. She was analyzing him. Haruhi was going to determine whether Tsuruya was worthy of the boy that sat across from her.

I sighed. The question was bugging me too much. I had to ask. Tapping Haruhi's shoulder, I ignored her flinch and pressed onwards with my question. "Haruhi, you don't really like Tsuruya's boyfriend, do you?"

She gave me a disconcerted look. "W…what's that supposed to mean, Kyon? I've never even met the guy. Besides, why would I hate him when he's an alien?"

I rolled my eyes, but didn't press her on the subject. I knew she didn't believe that, not really, not from the bottom of her heart. But calling her out on it, right here and right now, wouldn't be right. Besides, I bet I wouldn't even get anything meaningful out of her. "Fine, then. So, Haruhi, if you were as rich as Tsuruya, what from this menu would you order?"

A playful grin made its way onto Haruhi's lips, and it was matched by her eyes. I couldn't help but smile along with her. That was just how it worked when you were around Haruhi when she was genuinely joyful. We conversed, talking about school and aliens and the diner and whatever popped into our heads. Pretty soon, we'd even forgotten why we'd come in the first place. Haruhi's smile seemed to be everlasting, and it only served to be fuel for mine. Time flew quicker than a falcon, and before we knew it, Tsuruya and her boyfriend were getting up to leave.

"…But honestly, she says that every day. Why doesn't she just—"

"Hold on." I held a hand up, interrupting Haruhi. "They're leaving." She turned in her seat and strained to catch a glimpse of the couple leaving their seats.

"Ah!" Haruhi exclaimed, slamming down her menu. She made me toss a few coins onto the table and bolted out of her seat, dragging me with her. I guess I was just a stuffed animal she could carry with her, then, huh? I sighed. Whatever. I was used to it.

We trailed behind the couple about ten meters, careful to dodge out of sight whenever either of them turned their heads to glance casually behind them, or whenever they turned a corner. I had to admit, Haruhi was certainly skilled when it came to evading detection. She instantly dragged me to a location we were sure to be unseen from. I wondered why she was so good.

The couple ahead of us soon made it to the karaoke place, entering and therefore leaving our reach. We couldn't exactly join their room, so we were stuck waiting outside. I struck a casual pose leaning against the wall while Haruhi crossed her arms and stared at the sidewalk.

She shot a glare in my direction. "What are you doing?"

I raised an eyebrow. What did she mean "what was I doing"?

Haruhi scowled at me impatiently. "I mean, what's up with that pose? First the all-black getup and now this awkward pose. Do you want us to get caught?"

"What?" I exclaimed incredulously. "This is a casual pose!"

"No, it's not." Haruhi said. "Though, that wasn't the only thing I was going to ask." I cocked my head. She turned to face me. "I also want to know: what we're you doing earlier? We were supposed to be spying on those two, and you distracted me with all your small talk! What the heck? I thought you were on my side!"

Whoa, calm down. I put my palms out in front of me. "Listen, listen, okay?" I waited for her to calm down. Once she had, I went on. "Look, as much as this is a crucial mission for the SOS Brigade, I personally also want it to feel like a fun night."

A strange, dawning look crossed over Haruhi's face. I continued. "I know you aren't exactly the most normal girl in the world, and that a normal night of fun, like the one Tsuruya's having right now, isn't something that you'd even think to do, but I've said it before, and I'll say it again: don't you think it'd be better if you were to have a normal high school life? Do normal high school things? Go out, have fun, be with friends?"

Haruhi scowled somewhat, and she folded her arms. "What do you mean? I do go out and have fun and be with my friends."

I shook my head. "No, you don't. Every instance you'd think of would all be on Brigade business. When was the last time you just went out for the sake of having fun?" I waited for Haruhi to answer, but as expected, she stayed in reluctant silence. "You know, Haruhi, I've told you before that it's okay for you to do things a normal high schooler does. Just because those activities don't have anything to do with the supernatural, it doesn't mean they aren't worth doing.

"I mean, just take a look at Tsuruya," I went on. Haruhi's attention was fully on me, and her expression wasn't despising. Good, good. "She and her boyfriend are probably having the time of their lives right now, and I can't say it'd be surprising. They're eating out at a fancy diner, and going to a karaoke place. It sounds really fun, don't you think?" I waited, giving Haruhi and her dumbfounded expression time to make a small nod.

"I was making small talk earlier because while this is a mission for the brigade, it's also a night just to cut loose. I'm sure if you'd just think back on earlier, you'd find we were having a great deal of fun. And it had nothing to do with some weird exposition or hunt. It just happened because we decided to cut loose and enjoy ourselves. Haruhi, I don't think you do enough of that. It's always SOS Brigade, all the time. But tonight, seeing you like this, I have to say, I want to see you just going out simply because you feel like it more often. Even if that does seem like typical 'normal high schooler' behavior, which I know you're very opposed to." Man, I had no idea where all this was coming from. I guess this was just the culmination of what I was feeling. It seemed that suddenly, Koizumi's plan didn't matter as much anymore. I just wanted Haruhi to have a fun night.

Haruhi's cheeks were inexplicably tinted with a light shade of red. After a long moment, she finally spoke, evading my eyes by looking away. "I guess that does sound pretty good. I…I don't mean to do everything on behalf of the Brigade. It's just always been that way. Besides, I'd never even considered just going out for fun. Being me, I've never thought it was really worth it. I do see, though, that it _is_ pretty fun. But you know, Kyon," Haruhi said, her playful grin returning, "Brigade missions are fun, too. Don't you forget it!"

I smiled. Haruhi smiled back. I don't believe either of us were realising it.

Suddenly, two tall, middle-aged guys walked past us on the sidewalk. One whistled a cat call.

What? What the hell, asshole? I shot him a dirty look, and put my arm protectively around Haruhi's shoulder, pulling her closer to me. I wasn't letting anyone think she was just ripe for the picking. I could feel Haruhi struggling somewhat in my arm, but I kept a firm grasp on her shoulder and stared down the sleazy guy that was walking past us. He returned my glare, but continued on without incident.

I breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness that's over with. Sheesh. The nerve of that guy, huh?" I said, releasing Haruhi from my grip. To my surprise, she forcefully shoved me away from her the instant I let her go.

"H-how dare you?" Haruhi stuttered incredulously, her cheeks reddening and her scowl increasing in intensity. "I-I can take care of myself around scumbags like him! You d-don't need to p-put your arm around me…" she trailed off, her eyes avoiding mine.

I rubbed my neck. Where had this come from? All I did was put my arm over her shoulder, and to protect her, at that! Shouldn't I be receiving a little gratitude?

"Just…next time don't do that without my permission." Haruhi said in a tone that was lessening in intensity. I breathed out my relief. Good. It seemed she was calming down.

Suddenly, Tsuruya and her boyfriend walked out the doors to the karaoke place. Crap! I couldn't let them see us! My mind racing, I instantly grabbed Haruhi's wrist and pulled her into the cover of the mailbox that sat right beside us. She again seemed to struggle as I held her hand, but whatever. This was her mission, and she wanted to spy on these two without being noticed. She could withstand me holding her wrist for ten seconds.

I peered around the corner of the mailbox, careful to keep myself as invisible as possible as I watched Tsuruya and her boyfriend walk arm in arm in the opposite direction. Hmm…this wasn't the way back to Tsuruya's place. Maybe they were going to his house? But that wouldn't be very chivalrous of him, to go home and leave her to make her own way home in the middle of the night.

"So you're alright with that?" I overheard him asking. Genuine concern filled his voice. "Seeing the fountains, I mean."

Tsuruya chuckled her all-too-familiar laugh. "Of course, dummy! If you really want to do it, then so do I!"

See the fountains? What were they talking about? As I watched them shrink and get swallowed up by the flow of people walking down the street, I felt Haruhi wrench her wrist from my grasp. I turned my head slightly to glance back at her, and was met by her angry, flushed glare. "What did I _just say_?!" she yelled, pointing at me as though accusing me of assault.

"What are you talking about?" was my immediate retort. Wait, what _was_ she talking about? Hmm… "You mean not to put my arm around you? But I didn't! All I did was grab your wrist!"

She huffed pissed-off air into my face like fire. "It's the same difference! And I also told you that you shouldn't do it without my permission!"

I returned her steely glare with a somewhat defeated grimace. I wasn't giving up, however. "Look, I only grabbed your wrist so we could hide! Tsuruya would have seen us otherwise! Or did you want this mission to go belly-up?"

Haruhi squeezed her eyes shut, her anger frothing and her scowl growing. Finally, she calmed down and merely glared at me as per the norm. "Fine, whatever. You're off the hook this time. Now, where is this fountain thing?"

Luckily, I actually managed to clue in as to what Tsuruya was talking about. A nearby complex had just been purchased by some big company, complete with an artificial pond and a fountain display to go with it. Apparently they shot in different directions and were lit up by lights in the water. And, according to my phone, it was going to be starting in a few minutes.

I stopped myself from grabbing Haruhi's wrist again, and instead opted to run ahead, glancing behind me to see if she was keeping up. Haruhi was unquestioning as she followed me, dipping and weaving through every person in the crowd of people that were walking down the street. It was kind of nice that she didn't ask where exactly I was going. Just went to show how much she trusted me. Huh. Maybe Koizumi was right. Maybe. Though I guess she did already know we were going to the fountain.

Definite maybe.

Using my phone's GPS, I led Haruhi past swarms of people until we made it all way to the fountain show. I could see the people already crowding about the railing. There was barely enough space for both Haruhi and I to squeeze in, but somehow I made it work. Scanning about the many people standing at the edge of the rail, I finally found Tsuruya and her boyfriend standing about twenty feet away, their hands intertwined.

"Phew," I said, relieved. "Looks like we managed to find them again."

"Yeah, no thanks to you slowing us down!" Haruhi retorted in a brash tone. Yeah, um, you were the one who slowed us down. Whatever. Haruhi never was one to get hung up on details like that, especially when those details would incriminate her.

"So, do you want to keep on eye on them, or me?" I asked her.

She flipped her hair. "What do you think, numbskull? We're spying on them together! Therefore, we both spy on them!"

"How about I watch them?" I offered. "You can just watch the fountains and enjoy yourself. Get a taste for what it's like to have fun as a normal high schooler." It had been on my mind since I'd given her that spiel earlier. Somehow, it felt like the most important thing to do: to let Haruhi experience her youth properly. Sure, she could continue to spend this night dogging after Tsuruya and her boyfriend, but she could do that any other night. I turned to Haruhi. "After all, when are you gonna get a chance to do this again?"

The frown I saw coming from Haruhi was more subdued than I'd expected. I guess that was good. Maybe my message was getting through to her, at least a little. She huffed air out of her nostrils, and, with an air of reluctance, faced the water below. "Fine. I don't see the point, but I guess I will."

I wasn't sure whether it actually was getting through now, though. She'd just said she didn't see the point. Unless she was being her typical, stubborn self. Or perhaps she was just doing it cause I asked? Hmm…no way. She's not so willing to bend to my wants.

Whatever the reason for her decision to go along with my idea, it seemed Haruhi was keeping her eyes adamantly on the pond. Well, adamantly is a strong word. They did stay firmly locked onto the rippling surface of the water, but occasionally they would dart to the side to meet mine, before they looked away dramatically, trying to pretend our eye contact never happened. Huh. I wonder what that was about?

Then, a few minutes later, the fountains suddenly shot out from underneath the surface of the pond, causing ripples of water to go through the pond and ripples of excited murmurs to go through the crowd. It was then that the fountain show started.

In retrospect, I probably should have paid more attention to Tsuruya, considering I'd just told Haruhi I would. But I already knew he wasn't an alien, or anything supernatural, otherwise Koizumi or Nagato or maybe even Asahina would have notified me about it. There was no need to watch him. Really, I only needed to do it to appease Haruhi. And while I wouldn't have minded spying on him (much), there was still something drawing me in: the fountains themselves. Yes, believe it or not, my attention was actually being grabbed by something that was meant to be an attention-grabber.

You know, after all I'd seen, the aliens and the espers and the time-travelers and the crazy otherworldly stuff that seemed to happen on a regular basis, I never thought something as simple as a fountain show would amaze me quite like it did that night. The flowing water; the way it moved and flowed, and the colours reflecting beautifully off of the vapor floating in the air was simply…breath-taking. It captivated me so much so, that by the time it was over, I didn't even realize my hand had somehow gotten intertwined with Haruhi's.

I stared at our hands for a few seconds, before realizing it had happened without either of us meaning to. I didn't pull away, though, and instead studied Haruhi's expression. She seemed as dumbfounded as me that our fingers hand somehow interlocked at some point during the show.

Then, the realization kicked in. Haruhi, her face turning somewhat red, swiftly jerked her hand from mine, and pulled it protectively away from me.

Neither of us spoke, though.

A silence seemed to wash over us, and the typically chatty Haruhi suddenly appeared to be at a loss for words. Then, some time after the majority of the crowd had dispersed, Haruhi finally spoke. "I…I just realized something. Could you come with me?"

Could I come with her? What was this? Since when did Haruhi ask if it was okay with me to do something? Something was certainly up. "Sure," I replied, shrugging casually. "Where to?"

"Never mind where!" Haruhi yelled. Hey, that was more like it. "Just come with me!"

Her hand shot straight towards mine, and clenched my wrist like it was a lifesaver and she was drowning, Haruhi then yanked me through the crowd and towards the mystery destination. She pulled me through the ever-flowing highway of human traffic that constantly made its way up and down the street, until, after rounding a few corners, she stopped at a store on the corner of a quiet street.

 _Takeuchi's Chocolates._

"A chocolate store?" I asked confusedly, Haruhi's fingers still digging in my wrist.

I received no explanation, however, and was promptly yanked directly into the store. Once inside, Haruhi, to my relief, finally released me from her iron grip, and proceeded to head directly towards the counter. I watched from the back of the store as my mind raced and my chest heaved.

What on earth was she doing? Why had she brought me to a chocolate store at eight in the evening? What was she buying chocolate for?

As the questions zipping around my head remained unanswered, I watched as Haruhi exchanged cash for candy, and strode across the store to confront me, a purple box in her hands. Then, before I could even muster up the will to speak, she shoved the chocolates into my arms, and bowed so low her hair covered her face.

"W-What's this?" I sputtered confusedly. I truly meant it. Why the hell was Haruhi giving me chocolates?

I couldn't believe my eyes as I stared at Haruhi fidgeting and squirming uncomfortably under my gaze, her cheeks flushed. "I know I'm a little late, but…Happy Valentines Day, Kyon."

What?

"These…are for me? For Valentines Day?" I asked, beside myself in confusion. Okay, it wasn't weird that Haruhi would give me chocolates for February 14. I mean, she did last year. It _was_ weird, however, that she was seemingly doing it out of the blue. I mean, what had prompted this? We were just on a mission to spy on Tsuruya, and then she just drags me to a chocolate store for no reason? I mean, why now?

"Yeah, they're for you." Haruhi said, her usual impatient tone of voice returning. "Now, make sure to savour each one! As your brigade chief, you only get this once a year!"

"Ah," I said. "So they're from you as the chief? As an obligation?"

Haruhi didn't answer. She simply turned on her heel, and bolted out the door, leaving me with a dumbfounded expression on my face and a box of chocolates.

 **Here you all go! Another chapter complete!**

 **This one took a really long time to write, so I hope you all appreciate it! I'm getting lots of followers on this story, so I made sure to push to get this one out, just so you wouldn't have to wait too long.**

 **So, as you can tell, I'm pushing ahead with the slow HaruKyon build. It'll take a few chapters to get there, but that's just how it'll have to play out, so just stick with me and you won't be disappointed.**

 **Well, until next time!**


	3. Chapter 3: Newfound Feelings

**Hey, everyone.**

 **So some of you may have noticed that I released a third chapter, one that was strikingly similar to my second chapter. It mostly centered around Kyon and Haruhi going on another date, but I tried to focus more on Kyon's feelings to give it some variety. It seems, though, that I had unintentionally recreated chapter two, and I am sorry. Therefore, I have decided to remove it. The first bit of this chapter will be taken from the original, but otherwise, chapter three will be entirely rewritten to consist of different content.**

 **I hope this redo is satisfactory, and I appreciate your support!**

I walked home that night, the events that had unfolded just a few minutes prior still floating around in my mind. Grasping the box of chocolates in my hand, I thought back to Haruhi's behaviour back in the chocolate store.

She'd seemed...odd. Certainly unlike I'd ever seen her before. Haruhi was usually confident, proud, and never bashful about anything, not even when it came to something as typically nerve-racking as Valentine's Day. To Haruhi, that was just another holiday to have fun with. I remembered what she had done last year. She had forced Koizumi and I to climb up with her to the top of some mountain belonging to the Tsuruya family, and had made us dig until we unearthed her Valentine's Day chocolates. No, her sheepish behaviour in that shop was definitely new. I wonder if it had anything to do with her whole hatred of couples deal.

Whatever the case, I wasn't in the mood to worry about what went on inside of Haruhi's head. In fact, I was glad just to be arriving at the station. Standing there, I looked down at my black hoodie, and picked some lint off of it. Hmph. Why did Haruhi have to say I didn't look inconspicuous? In retrospect, she was definitely right, but still...some part of me felt...discontented that she'd said that. Sheesh. Did Haruhi's opinion really matter to me that much?

I arrived home at around 8:30 or so. The sun had definitely gone down, and I was forced to put my hyperactive sister to bed while fending her resistance off. After that fiasco, I headed straight to bed, and flopped down on it face-first.

Hmm...something felt off.

What, though? There was definitely some feeling in the pit of my stomach that was telling me something was wrong, but I couldn't place my finger on it. There was certainly one thing I was sure about, though: whatever it was, I wasn't going to be able to fall asleep with it lingering there.

Groaning in frustration, I got up and looked around the room. Maybe there was something I needed to do. Maybe it was an object in my room.

My eyes fell on my phone, which sat on the crumpled blanket that lay strewn about my bed. Huh. I guess I'll call Asahina. Yeah, she never failed to improve my mood. Even if talking to her over the phone did mean that I was unable to actually see her adorable face, her super-cute voice was still good enough. My mind made up, I reached out and retrieved my phone from off the bed. I quickly tapped on her name in my contacts, and put the phone to my ear.

"Kyon?" came the voice of the SOS Brigade's resident maid.

"Hey, Asahina," I greeted her. Oh wait; now what? Damn, I hadn't thought about what to say! Crap, think of something quick, man!

"What is it?" Asahina asked politely. "Oh, is it about Suzumiya? How did your date go? Oh, that's right; Koizumi-kun already told me about your plans, so don't feel like you need to explain them!"

Did he, now? I guess that did make things simpler. "It went well. We followed Tsuruya around, and I think he was on his best behaviour the whole time. Though, now that I think about, we didn't actually do all that much spying..."

I heard Asahina's tiny gasp. "Oh, now that I have you, Kyon, I should tell you. Apparently, the plan to use the Couples' Counselling is still happening on Monday, and you'll still be doing it with Suzumiya."

Fantastic. Nice to know Koizumi was still counting almost entirely on me to get things done. Hey, hadn't he said he was going to help out more? All he'd done so far was text Tsuruya, and then relay the information to Haruhi! I could do that in my sleep! Rrgh...whatever. I could worry about that later. There was still the more pressing matter of figuring what else to say to Asahina. I wasn't finished hearing that adorable voice!

"So, um, Asahina, I was wondering, about the future..." Huh? About the future? Why was I asking that? It seemed my mouth was moving on its own. Well, that was okay. I needed the conversation. "I was just a little curious...do you happen to know if, in the future...Haruhi gets a boyfriend?" What? Why was I asking that of all things?

Asahina simply giggled. "Kyon, don't you know by now that I can't disclose information regarding the future?"

Yeah, I knew that. Really, I was kind of wondering what had even prompted me to ask that in the first place. I guess the whole evening of spying on Tsuruya and her boyfriend had put the topic in my mind. You know, even though we didn't actually really do much spying at all. Whatever.

"Is that all, Kyon?" Asahina asked timidly.

I sighed. "No, I'm good. I guess I just needed to talk to someone. Thanks, Asahina."

I could almost hear her smiling brightly on the other side of the phone. "You're welcome Kyon. See you at school on Monday!"

"See you, Asahina." I said with a melancholic smile. I hung up and set my phone on my desk. Hmph. That discontent feeling was still there. I guess talking on the phone wasn't the solution, after all. Argh, why was I feeling this way?

Simmering, I sauntered across the room and sat down at my desk. The lamp that stood in the upper left corner of it doused its surface in light, blinding me somewhat with its reflection off of the box of chocolates. Hmm. Chocolates, huh? Maybe those would cheer me up. And it was well past Valentine's Day too, so I deserved some chocolate at this point.

My mind made up, I pulled off the lid and examined the list of chocolates. After locating my favourite, I quickly stole it from its spot in the container and popped it in my mouth.

Hmm...the chocolate had a nice texture, with an enjoyable flavour, as well as a pleasantly creamy center. It melted in my mouth, and the instant it was gone, I wanted more. Huh. Good job, Takeuchi Chocolates. I commend you for your chocolate-making skills. I wonder if Haruhi knew they made good chocolate when she'd dragged me over there. Oh, who am I kidding. She probably just saw it as we were walking by it on our way to the fountain and just recalled it afterwards. Or she decided to run around town aimlessly until she found a place that sold chocolates.

After sneaking another chocolate, I closed the lid, flicked my light off, and slid into bed. Tomorrow was another day. Uncomfortable feeling in my stomach or not, I had to deal with it. Though it did seem to be getting better. I bet the delicious, chocolaty goodness I'd just feasted upon had helped.

I went to school on Monday after having attempted to avoid thinking about my whole espionage mission with Haruhi. For some reason this weird dream of Haruhi and I holding hands kept popping up in my sleep, causing me to wake up several times in the night. These sudden jolts awake were accompanied by strange thoughts of Haruhi, her face, her eyes, her…

Wait, where was I?

Anyways, I ended up, for some reason, wanting to hold Haruhi's hand again, to see her again, to be close to her. But I was in bed, and thus stayed awake for over an hour, replaying the same two mantras in my head over and over again when ever those strange desires popped up: "Why are you thinking about doing that? Those thoughts are wrong!"

And as they ended up keeping me up all night the evening before I had to go to school, I once again performed the constant climb of the hill up to our school, struggling to keep my eyes open. Luckily for me, or unluckily, depending on how you looked at it, Taniguchi came to my rescue and slapped me on the back, waking my sleepwalking self up.

"Hey, Kyon! Have a nice weekend?" he asked, an all-too bright, all-too cheery smile spread across his lips. I merely gave him a look at my baggy, hollow eyes that had resulted from several hours of obsessing over…things. Taniguchi only seemed to notice in passing, though. "Guess not. I gotta say, though, Kyon, this week is looking up!"

"Is that right?" I asked apathetically. I couldn't care less what Taniguchi thought of this week, but I did know one thing: he only ever had a smile like that when something great had happened to him.

"Yep! And guess why, Kyon!" he waited for my answer as I glared at him, slight hatred working its way into my mood. Taniguchi, unsurprisingly, was unperturbed. "I got a girlfriend!" He announced triumphantly, puffing his chest out and sticking his nose in the air. "Yes, that's right. No longer do you have to listen to me gripe about my single status. Nope, now I may give my beloved a box of chocolate on White Day and have her be happy about it!"

Huh. This was somewhat surprising. First Tsuruya, and now Taniguchi? What, was Kunikida going to have a sweetheart the next time I saw him? It seemed everyone closest to me (who wasn't on constant Haruhi surveillance duty, of course) was going out with someone. Was I destined to become a bachelor for eternity? At least I'd have the SOS Brigade to keep me company. If you could call that company.

I straightened up, my eyes catching the top of the school as we neared the summit of the hill. "That's great, Taniguchi. I can't wait to meet her."

Taniguchi flinched, and hesitated before speaking again. "Well, um, you see, it's…um…"

"You don't have a girlfriend, do you?" I deadpanned.

Taniguchi shook his head sadly. "Well, she still might end up dating me. We've just arranged to go out after school today! And I guarantee that she'll be so wooed by the end of it, she'll practically be begging to be my girlfriend."

"I'm sure," I managed. Taniguchi frowned, but let the comment slide.

"Whatever. At least I have a shot. You're stuck in that club room after school, keeping Haruhi Suzumiya and her band of psychos company. It makes me wonder whether you'll ever join me in the paradise of having a girlfriend."

"Uh huh," I said, speeding up my pace and heading through the doors of the school. Taniguchi's incessant chattering was enough to make me crave even Haruhi's crazy babble. At least, I hoped that was why I wanted to talk to her so badly. Man, I wished those thoughts would go away.

Entering the classroom, I gave a cheerful wave to Haruhi, who was sitting and looking bored as usual, in her desk. "Hey, Haruhi!"

She flinched upon seeing me, her cheeks heating up, but she quickly regained her composure. Huh. I wonder why she had suddenly blushed even though all I'd done was say hi to her? "Hey, Kyon. How was your weekend?"

What a strangely ordinary thing for her to say, I pointed out as I took my seat in front of her.

"Yeah, well, you told me you thought it'd be beneficial to experience 'the life of a normal high schooler', so I'm giving it a shot!" Haruhi exclaimed exuberantly. I smiled. Even with things Haruhi wasn't sure she liked, she still pursued them full force, no holds barred, in typical Haruhi fashion. It was one of the things that was charming about her, I guess. I'm sure people like Taniguchi would disagree with me there, though.

Speaking of Taniguchi, he gave me the facial expression equivalent of the finger as he entered the room. "What the hell, Kyon? Why'd you just leave me there? I wasn't done talking about my girlfriend!"

"Oh, give it a rest," I grumbled. "She's not even your girlfriend."

"Speaking of girlfriends, I heard Tsuruya recently became one!" Kunikida piped up. "I even saw them at the mall during the weekend, arms interlocked, loving looks in their eyes, all of that stuff! There was no mistaking that they were a couple. I wonder what school he goes to, though."

As Kunikida and Taniguchi began to converse about dating, Haruhi wiggled an eyebrow at me. Huh? What was that supposed to mean? Suddenly, she leaned in closer to me. "Remember, today we counsel! It's time to catch that alien red-handed!"

Oh, yeah. Haruhi thought Tsuruya's boyfriend was an alien. I had forgotten. Although according to Koizumi, it was just a front, and all Haruhi really wanted to do was protect Tsuruya from him. Man, Haruhi's mind was confusing.

"Hold on, Haruhi. Don't get too worked up yet. We've still got a whole day of classes before we do any counselling." I said. I didn't need Haruhi bugging me about it all day. Calming her down was the best solution I had.

Haruhi frowned. "Oh, come on, Kyon! Last week you were all fired up for counselling, but now you're just another…him!" Haruhi said disdainfully, pointing her thumb discreetly at Taniguchi. Well, I couldn't disagree with that. I noted the look in her eyes. It was fierce, impatient, demanding, fiery, everything you'd expect Haruhi's expression to be when she was excited about something. It was exactly the same as when we were shooting our film, or when we'd gone to Koizumi's "relatives'" mansion. And currently, it meant potential trouble I wanted to stave off until after school.

I quickly thought about what expression I would have preferred Haruhi have. Almost instantly, the expression she'd made at the fountains the other day popped into my mind. Her cheeks red, her expression innocent, even content, and her eyes holding the look of a cheerful little girl. Yeah…it'd be real nice if Haruhi could make that expression again… "Boy, those chocolates were good…" I mumbled absent-mindedly.

"What did you say?" Haruhi snapped, her face reddening somewhat and her stern expression faltering.

"Nothing, nothing," I responded dismissively. Whew, it seemed even just mentioning the chocolates had done the trick. Haruhi seemed more calmed down. Or at least a lot more quiet. I couldn't help but state at her as she fidgeted uncomfortably in her seat. Her cheeks continued to flush, and for some reason, Haruhi almost looked…cute.

Wait, what?

Did I really just think that? Haruhi, cute? Sure, attractive and undoubtedly beautiful, but certainly not…cute. Cute was a word one would use to describe their girlfriend, not a word I would use to describe Haruhi. So why was the word so…fitting?

Gah, why was I having these weird thoughts?!

Luckily, Mr. Okabe calling the class's attention pulled me away from my own unnatural thoughts and into a dull stupor, the one that always seemed to fall over me whenever class actually started. I threw a brief glance at Haruhi behind me, who was already positioning herself for a nap, before I felt the sweet a lure of the sleep I'd missed the night prior calling my name. Oh, how it'd be nice to forget about Haruhi for once and just sleep, I thought to myself.

Before I knew it, Taniguchi was waking me up for lunch. Dammit. I missed a whole two hours of class thanks to my lack of sleep. Haruhi, why did you have to poison my mind like this?

"Yo, dude, are you okay?" Taniguchi asked me as he, Kunikida and I pulled out our lunches. "I mean, I realize all that time you spend in the weirdest club of all time must take some sort of a toll, but you've been acting weird today, bro."

What, did he mean how I had bags under my eyes? "Sorry; I didn't get much sleep last night. I had to catch up in class."

"No, that's not what I meant." Taniguchi said, shaking his head. "I was talking about your strange new habit of staring at Haruhi Suzumiya. What's up with that? I mean, I knew you were into weird girls, but you and her have been hanging out for over a year now. Why the sudden interest?"

My mind kind of tuned out as Taniguchi began going off on some tangent about who knows what. Wait, wait, wait, what had he said? I'd been _staring_ at Haruhi? Since when? Had I been doing that all day? Hmm…I thought back to earlier. Yeah, I'd definitely noted that I thought Haruhi was…cute…for some reason…but I hadn't stared at her, had I?

"You don't…have crush on her, do you, Kyon?" Taniguchi asked mischievously, grinning at me.

"Definitely not." Came my immediate response. It was funny; whenever others would ask that question to me, after giving it some brief thought, I had always decided that no, I did not have a crush on Haruhi, and then proceeded to tell them so. I'd done it so much that it'd become second nature to answer a question like that with a firm no, especially when the one asking it was Taniguchi. Yet for some reason, my mind began thinking about Haruhi, her face, her eyes, and for some reason my heart started pounding. What? It was happening again!

"Hmm..." Taniguchi hummed slyly. "I don't know, Kyon. Your face is looking pretty red right now."

I then felt the rest of my face heat up. Great. I _definitely_ needed more evidence for Taniguchi to dangle over my head.

"C'mon, Taniguchi, give it a rest." Kunikida said, coming graciously to my rescue. "Kyon's made it clear multiple times that he doesn't like Suzumiya like that."

Thanks, Kunikida.

"Although..." Kunikida said slowly, eyeing my expression, "I gotta say, Kyon. Your face is pretty red right now. You don't…actually have a crush on her, right?"

Thanks, Kunikida.

"HA!" Taniguchi guffawed. "Imagine that! Kyon and Haruhi, dating?! No chance! Don't forget that this is Haruhi Suzumiya we're talking about, here. You know, the girl who infamously dumps every guy she goes out with within the first week or so? Her record is five minutes, _remember_?" Uh, yeah, that was you, Taniguchi. "Even if it was Kyon, she'd never go out with him. Her opinion on romance is all out of whack. She may be hot, but at the rate she's going, she's never going to get a boyfriend, not even Kyon." Taniguchi then cocked an eyebrow in my direction. "Well, I guess there's no harm in trying, right, lover boy?"

"Heh, yeah, me and Haruhi…dating…" I trailed off. Hmm. Was Taniguchi right about something for once? It was true that Haruhi was completely biased against romance, and that she hated every date she'd ever gone on. Would that mean Haruhi would stay single forever? Would she ever get a boyfriend? What would that even be like? I tried to imagine Haruhi standing beside a tall guy with a smug expression on his face and an arm wrapped around her shoulder. I scowled. I wanted to rip that guy's smug grin straight off of his unrealistically handsome face. Heh. Was I really getting jealous of an imaginary dude?

Wait.

Was I really getting jealous of the fact that Haruhi might one day get a boyfriend?

Surely not. I mean, I didn't care whether Haruhi was hanging out with some dude. After all, she hung out with Koizumi all the time. I tried to imagine the guy whose arm was around Haruhi's shoulder as Koizumi instead of some nameless douche. Hmm…Dammit. I still wanted to tear off his overly pleasant smile. Was I really that concerned if Haruhi got a boyfriend or not?

Crap. I think I'm jealous of a person that doesn't even exist.

"Yo, Kyon, you listening?" Taniguchi said, waving his hand in front of my face. "Or are you too busy fantasizing about being Suzumiya's boyfriend?"

Me, Haruhi's boyfriend?

Why did that idea seem so good to me?

I opted to ignore Taniguchi for the rest of the day, and tried instead to focus on not falling asleep during class, which, let me tell you, is not easy when you're already in the cusp of drifting into the land of slumber. Bottom line: it's hard to focus on not being sleepy when you're sleepy.

Regardless, I made it through, only having a few times where I accidentally fell asleep actually occur. And, like I was a Pavlovian dog being called by the school's bell, my feet carried me automatically to that familiar place of horror and pain, also known as Haruhi's lair: the Literary club room. Knocking robotically, as though it were a part of my coding, I received a polite "come in" and heeded the advice.

Asahina's radiant beauty was the first thing to greet me as I entered the room. For some reason, she was dressed like a secretary, with a very tight-fitting button-up coat and skirt adorning her body, complete with long leggings and a pair of glasses. Her hair had even been done up. As I took her gorgeous form in, a singular thought was all that was going through my mind: "Am I in heaven?"

"Hello, Kyon!" Asahina greeted me kindly. "How do I look? Is it alright?"

"Unmistakably breathtaking, Asahina." I responded. Well, even if I wasn't sure where I was at on Haruhi, at least I knew that Asahina would always be the angel of the brigade, never to be replaced.

I looked past Asahina, and saw Yuki with her face in a book as always, and Koizumi sitting in his usual spot. He caught my eye, and motioned discreetly with his head towards a sign posted on the brigade chief's desk: Couples' Counselling! was written in huge letters on the page. I guess Haruhi felt the need to slap people over the head with her poster just so everyone would know that we were still doing couples' counselling. Typical Haruhi.

"So, are you dressed like that for the counselling?" I asked Asahina.

Suddenly, from out of nowhere, Haruhi appeared, pointing a finger straight at my throat. "Well, of course she is, Kyon! Why else would I have her dress up like a secretary otherwise? Oh, but who cares about that? We've got counselling to prepare for!"

Prepare? Since when did Haruhi ever prepare for anything?

"I always prepare for things I'm serious about!" Haruhi shouted. Yeah, I beg to differ, I thought internally, recalling the fiasco with the film Haruhi decided to shoot on the fly. "Anyway, there's really only one thing you need to do, Kyon. Remember, this service is to confirm Tsuruya's boyfriend's true identity as an alien, so make sure to ask questions that'll lead to answers like that!"

"Hey, wait, wait…" I said, putting my hands up. "Don't forget that this is a counselling service, Haruhi. People are expecting help with their relationship problems, not with affirming the existence of aliens. You can't just sit down across from them and then be all like 'Hey, are you an alien?' You've got to ask strategic questions, ones that are disguised as regular counselling questions but are actually leading towards the topic of aliens."

Haruhi responded by whacking me upside the head with a magazine. "I know that, Kyon. I'm not an idiot! Besides, I'm the one in charge, here. I'm the only one should be giving advice to anyone! Now, Mikuru, I need to chat with you on how you should act when the two of them enter the room, alright…?" Haruhi walked past me and began talking to Asahina, leaving me free to plop my bag on the floor and take a seat. Unfortunately, my brief moment of peace was over in an instant.

Koizumi, who was sitting across from me, leaned in just as soon as I'd sat down, his hands cupping his mouth, signaling he was about to whisper. I reluctantly leaned in as well, not wanting to miss what was likely advice on how to act. "Remember, Kyon," he whispered, "You need to ask questions that'll easily allow for Tsuruya's boyfriend to answer positively, so Haruhi will see him as a better person. They do still need to be the sorts of questions that would sound like they came from a counselor, though, so keep that in mind."

Yeah, cause that'll be easy to do. Great, now both Haruhi and Koizumi were asking me to direct the flow of the "counselling" session, in two different directions. How was I supposed to do all this?

I sighed, and sat reluctantly down in the extra chair that had been placed beside Haruhi's one behind her desk. It seemed the computer had been moved out of the way so that Tsuruya and her boyfriend could actually see Haruhi and I, instead of the back of a computer monitor. I also noticed two folding chairs had been placed on the other side of Haruhi's desk, ostensibly for those who were gullible enough to fall into Haruhi's scheme to sit in. I kind of felt bad for Tsuruya, and even for her boyfriend a bit, as I stared at the two chairs. They were just being roped into this, all thanks to Haruhi.

Suddenly, a knock came from the outside of the door, shutting Haruhi up. She replaced her immediately excited grin with a more formal, serious one and rushed to join me behind her desk. "Come in!"

Tsuruya and her boyfriend walked in, as expected. He seemed to look exactly like he did in the video Tsuruya had shown me: same scruffy hair, same lazy expression. His head did seem to swivel about, though, as he checked out the club room uncertainly. I scrutinized him. Was that…fear in his eyes? Perhaps Koizumi or Tsuruya had already warned him about the dangers of Haruhi Suzumiya.

The couple took a seat across Haruhi and I, before Haruhi cleared her throat definitively. "Alright. The first SOS Brigade Couples' Counselling session shall come to order!"

What, was this a trial? And there wasn't even any commotion that needed to come to order in the first place!

I decided to start us off on the right foot, seeing as Haruhi would likely get the guy so horribly offended he'd leave at the first chance. "So, you two came to couples' counselling. What exactly is the problem you're facing?" That should be good. Seemed like something a counselor might ask. I was also curious as to the story Koizumi had undoubtedly prepared for them.

"Yeah," Haruhi interrupted, a mischievous twinkle in her eye, "like maybe you encountered an alien and you're wondering how to deal with the shock?"

Wow, Haruhi. Way to be blunt.

I decided to become Koizumi for a brief moment, and examined Haruhi's expression. Hmm…she certainly seemed to be studying Tsuruya's boyfriend's expression, indubitably searching for cues that would prove his true identity as an alien. I followed her gaze, and studied his expression instead. Yeah, the look on his face was exactly what one might expect it to be after hearing what came out of Haruhi's mouth for the first time: confused, deterred, and uncertain of how to respond.

"Nope!" Tsuruya replied jovially, as though what Haruhi had just said wasn't completely insane. Well, I guess if you were a veteran at handling Haruhi, such sentences were normal. "Actually, you see, my boyfriend and I have been having troubles talking with one another. Like, we go someplace together, but we can't seem to start up conversations, and on the rare occasions we do, we can't seem to hold them. It's a big problem, and I wonder if we're just not meant for each other. Oh, I hope that's not the case!"

Wow. I had to give props to Tsuruya; she really knew how to act. Unless this was actually a problem they were facing, in which case…well…

"Alright." I said. "When did this start?"

"Oh, just a few days ago." Tsuruya said. "But it's really been affecting our relationship, so even if it hasn't been happening for very long, I still think it needs to be addressed!"

"Yes, of course." I responded. "Not to try and point any fingers or anything, but do you think it could be due to your boyfriend? Is he a naturally talkative person?" I winked subtly at Tsuruya's boyfriend. Hopefully he'd know what I was getting at.

"Oh, yeah, yeah, absolutely." He chuckled nervously, his voice faltering. I grimaced. Evidently his girlfriend was a better actor than he was. "Like, when I used to go on dates with other girls, I couldn't relate to them, like there was no bond or anything, so I couldn't really talk to them. But with Tsuruya, I felt like I could totally talk with her about anything!" Wow. He was starting to sound sincere. Probably because he was, at this point. "But, uh…but now, it's like there's a…barrier? I think?" he glanced at Tsuruya as though trying to figure out if that was the right thing to say or not.

"Right." I said, stopping him from spouting anything else.

"Oh, who cares about that?" Haruhi snapped. "What about aliens? Have you two seen any aliens?" she growled impatiently. Sheesh, Haruhi. For a girl who said she was going to be discreet about confirming his identity as an alien, she was certainly being awfully blatant about it.

Tsuruya's boyfriend looked somewhat ticked, I noticed. "I don't see what aliens have to do with this session. Aren't we here to talk about mine and Tsuruya's problem?"

I grimaced again. I didn't dare sneak a peek at Haruhi's expression. Who knew what raw fury might have been pouring out of her eyes? I attempted to motion to Tsuruya's boyfriend to cut it out with the retorts, but apparently, I was either bad at giving discreet messages or he was too concerned with Haruhi to focus on me. Either one was fairly possible.

"I don't care about your problems!" Haruhi spat impatiently. "I didn't make this thing so that you could spout to me your problems; I made it so I could prove you're an alien!"

"What the—?!" Tsuruya boyfriend looked truly posses off now, I could see he was ready to stand up off if his chair, full-on accusatory mode, as he glared at Haruhi. "What on earth do you think a couples' counselling service is for? You're the counselors, you're supposed to be helping us through this!"

"Hey, you two, let's try to work this out—" I attempted to break it up to no avail.

"Why would I help you through your problems?!" Haruhi yelled. "Unless you're an alien, which I seriously doubt at this point, you are completely boring, completely uninteresting and completely a waste of my time! Not to mention that you're a sleaze bag, womanizing piece of trash who I know will dump Tsuruya the second a prettier girl walks by you on the street! You are far lower than the average human being, so no, I will _not_ be helping you through your problems!"

Tsuruya's boyfriend stood up suddenly, his chair scraping against the floor as the backs of his knees hit it. "You know what? I've heard of you. Oh, yeah. I've heard about the girl from East Junior High who drew weird symbols on the ground. I've heard of the girl who famously dresses up like a bunny girl while handing out flyers. You think _I'm_ low? No, it's _you_ who's the low one here! Why should I take your opinion seriously if you won't bother to do so with mine?"

Tsuruya stood up as well, a desperate expression on her face. "Hey, you guys, don't shout! I'm sure we can all try to be friends!"

"Be quiet, Tsuruya!" Haruhi snapped off-handedly, standing up suddenly from her chair to meet her boyfriend's hateful glare. "Then why'd you come here, huh? Why'd you bother to come to my service if you already think it's not worth it?"

"Because I love Tsuruya!" he said, his face flushing and his determined glare piercing through Haruhi's. "I love Tsuruya with all my heart. She makes me feel unlike any other girl I've known before! Yes, I may be a womanizer, but that's in the past now! I used to think women were objects, prizes to be won, but Tsuruya has helped me realize that I was wrong! She's shown me true love, and it's made me want to do anything and everything for her! That's why I came to your dumb Couples' Counselling session. Tsuruya values your opinion and thinks of you as a friend, and because I truly love Tsuruya, I'm willing to come with her to this thing, even if I don't believe in it myself! Not that you'd know what that's like, though, right? From what I've heard, you've never even had a proper relationship!"

"At least I don't put girls on pedestals like you!" Haruhi shouted, pointing a rage-infused finger at him.

Tsuruya's boyfriend gave one last despising look at Haruhi before grabbing Tsuruya's wrist gently and pulling her towards the door. "You know, Tsuruya told me that you thought I was unworthy of being her boyfriend. You might be right, but I'm trying to get better at it. But you; I don't think you are worthy of being anyone's girlfriend. I will say this, though: if you do get in a relationship, try to hold on to it. From what I've learned, they can be pretty life changing."

With that, the couple closed the door behind them, bathing the room in an uncomfortable silence. I looked around the room. Koizumi looked mildly upset, with a calculating expression on his face, which was weird considering I would expected him to be more than a tad concerned. Asahina looked to be on the verge of tears as she trembled in her seat. Nagato, of course, sat expressionless as she held her book in her hands. However, her eyes didn't seem to be reading it. Maybe she was analyzing the situation.

Suddenly, I heard sniffling beside me. Turning my head, I was incredibly surprised to see Haruhi struggling to hold back tears. "I…I can't believe…I did that…to her!"

"Did what?" I managed to respond through my shock.

"I…I made Tsuruya cry!" Haruhi choked out through her tears and inhalations.

"You…what?" She had? Haruhi had made Tsuruya cry? I tried to think back to the shouting match that was taking place a moment ago, but no image of Tsuruya's expression came to mind. I guess I had been too focused on her boyfriend and Haruhi to notice her.

"Didn't you see her?" Haruhi snapped at me. "She was crying…all because I had yelled at her!"

"Oh, Haruhi…" I cooed. Agh! This was so unlike me, but for some reason, I wanted to hold Haruhi in my arms, right then and there, and comfort her, make all of her worries go away, and just…be with her. I knew these sorts of thoughts were wrong, that I shouldn't be thinking of Haruhi that way, but…it just felt so right. Like just holding her and comforting her was the most correct thing in the world I could be doing.

Strangely, as though reading my mind, Haruhi let herself fall into me. I caught her in a comforting hug, my surprise that I hadn't even realized that I was standing as well fading quickly. She began sobbing into my arms, and I just held her. In that moment, it felt like it was just the two of us, in each other's arms, alone. I felt like I could hold Haruhi forever, comfort her forever, like it was my purpose.

Then, after a moment Haruhi separated, and looked me in the eyes. I noted subconsciously for the briefest of seconds that she looked gorgeous even after crying, before she crossed her arms and looked away. "I'm…I'm gonna go now. Dismissed." With that, Haruhi left the room, leaving the rest of us in silence.

Letting out a huge exhalation, I shuffled over to my usual spot at the table, across from Koizumi. His calculating expression still remained, though now a faint smile played on his lips. I frowned, and, both curious and wanting to move on from that fact that I'd enjoyed holding Haruhi way too much, decided to ask, "What's with that smile?"

"Hm?" Koizumi hummed innocently. "Oh, I'm just satisfied that we may have resolved Suzumiya's issue with Tsuruya's boyfriend."

I gaped at Koizumi. "Uh…were you there while those two were screaming at each other? Why the hell would you think her issues with him have been resolved? If anything, I'd say we failed miserably and their hatred is now stronger than ever!"

"Because Suzumiya now believes he is worthy of being Tsuruya's boyfriend." Koizumi responded simply.

I raised an eyebrow. "She does?"

Koizumi nodded. "Oh, yes. I examined her expression, behaviors, actions, and word choice throughout the entirety of that meeting, and I must say, Tsuruya's boyfriend has helped us out superbly." Koizumi seemed to notice my dumbfounded expression, and elaborated. "You see, if you were paying attention, you would notice that he very clearly stated his affections for Tsuruya. He then brought up his past of womanizing and how he used to treat girls. Lastly, he stated how Tsuruya changed him and how he has become fully devoted to her, that he has changed and will do anything for her."

"So…he proved himself worthy with that speech, so Haruhi is okay with him being Tsuruya's boyfriend?" I summarized crudely.

"Indeed," Koizumi nodded. "I imagine, though, that because of his insults and his stated opinions on Suzumiya's character, she will likely despise him from now on; not because he is dating Tsuruya, but because he seems to dislike Suzumiya very much. Therefore, I think we can safely say that the bias on other couples has at least been set on the right path towards becoming fully alleviated, and that we will have to keep Suzumiya and Tsuruya's boyfriend away from each other at all times."

I breathed a sigh of relief, and sat back in my chair, running a hand through my hair. "Thank goodness I don't have to work so hard for Haruhi any more."

Koizumi gave me a suggestive look. Uh oh. What did he want now? "I am curious, though, Kyon. You've been acting…different…as of late."

"Oh, yeah?" I said dryly. "How so?"

"Well, I noticed during that espionage mission with Suzumiya last week that you—"

"You were spying on us?" I interrupted, scowling at Koizumi. Of course he had been spying. I mean, his job was to observe Haruhi, after all. But really? And how had I not noticed him during that whole time? I guess I'd had other things on my mind.

"I know, I know, but I had to do it, in order to make sure Suzumiya's emotional state wasn't worsening as a result of the mission." Koizumi said, his calm, nonchalant expression in complete contrast to his apology. "Anyway, as I was saying…I had noticed that you two were getting awfully close. First you put your arm around her shoulder, then you held hands while watching a fountain, and lastly Suzumiya bought you chocolates. I hate to make assumptions…"

I frowned. "You're assuming wrong, then. I wrapped my arm around Haruhi's shoulder because some jerk on the street catcalled her. She bought me chocolates because she had been late for Valentine's Day. And we held hands because…because…" I trailed off. Why had we held hands? It had just sort of…happened. Neither of us had meant it to. We just kind of…did it.

Koizumi was giving me sort of a mixture of smugness within his regularly pleasant smile as he watched me attempt to recover. "Then you've realized something. Surely you must have by now, given your expression a few minutes ago." Huh? What was he talking about now? "Were you yourself not aware of it? Then I shall inform you. Not two minutes ago, you were holding Suzumiya in your arms."

"Yeah, yeah, I remember," I grumbled.

"I, of course, was studying your expression, as you have by this point noticed is my custom to do so. Do you know what your expression was, Kyon, in that moment, holding Suzumiya as she sobbed in your arms?" Koizumi asked almost maliciously.

I shot daggers at him. Just spit it out already!

"It was akin to that of a young man in love." Koizumi said.

I tried to ignore the fact that my cheeks were heating up as I fidgeted in my chair. "In love? What, you mean with Haruhi? Don't make me laugh. I thought you of all people knew our relationship isn't like that!"

"I did, too." Koizumi responded. "But recent circumstances have caused me to consider re-evaluating the bond you share with Suzumiya. As I have explained extensively in the past, you are the closest person to Haruhi. Out of all the people on earth, she chose to bring you with her when she was about to remake it. You were the one to convince her to break the time loop that had us stuck in the same few days of summer. Suzumiya trusts you the most, and I think that deep down, no matter how much you may deny it, you reciprocate that feeling. You two are certainly closer than any other pair of human beings I've ever seen.

"And yes, Kyon, I do realize that your relationship with Suzumiya is only 'just friends'. In fact, I wouldn't find it surprising if you were to call it something more on the lines of 'master and slave'. However, factoring in how close you two are, your behavior around and interactions with Suzumiya in the past and those made more recently, I've come to change how I view your relationship. You see, Kyon, I think you may be falling for Suzumiya, and I think she may be falling for you as well."

Huh?

"Me, falling for Haruhi?" I sputtered, my face flushing to my own dismay. "Wh…there's no way! There's no way I could be falling for…could I?"

Koizumi put up his hands. "Now, I'm not saying that you actually are or aren't. After all, my analyses of others' feelings have been proven wrong in the past. But I am saying that it's something to think about. Try, thinking back to all of the thoughts you may have had, all of the experiences you have shared with Suzumiya, and see if that helps."

Damn you, Koizumi. I glanced at him helplessly. "Wh…what if I am? How could Haruhi and I even…how would we still be able to…"

"I don't think that's for me to say." Koizumi replied. "I don't wish to ruin your relationship with Suzumiya, but I believe it could bring joy into her life if it were true that you were falling for her, and that she reciprocated those feelings. To paraphrase the words of Tsuruya's boyfriend: sometimes relationships can be life-changing. For Suzumiya, that could be exactly what she needs. And if I'm reading her expressions right, it could be what she wants, as well."

Koizumi then stood up, his chair scraping against the ground, and grabbed his bag. "Or perhaps I'm reading into things too much. Regardless, I think your feelings towards Suzumiya, and hers towards you, should be something to consider as we head into the future." With that, Koizumi left the room, once again leaving me in stone-cold silence.

Me, fall for Haruhi? There was no way, right? I mean, all throughout the entire time that I'd known Haruhi, not once had I ever thought of her that way. I mean, if there was anyone I had feelings for, wouldn't it be…oh, I don't know, Asahina? Huh…actually, hadn't she said something on the subject of boyfriends? I thought back to before I'd known that Tsuruya was dating someone, right when this all had started: to when I was asking Asahina for her opinion on Haruhi's problem. She'd said that if either Koizumi or I ever got a girlfriend, she'd feel protective of us. Was that how I felt about Haruhi?

I tried to imagine that same guy from earlier, the one who'd had his arm around Haruhi's shoulder. What if she suddenly spent all of her time with this guy? What if they went out on a cicada hunt, or enjoyed a festival together? What if Haruhi decided she didn't need me anymore?

No. I couldn't let that happen. For some reason, I knew that I could never accept Haruhi liking someone. But Koizumi had said that he thought Haruhi was falling for me as well. What if that was true? What if Haruhi did like me?

And what if I liked her too?

…

Dammit.

What if I did?

 **There you all have it. My redo! I hope this version of chapter three was satisfactory. I mean, I rushed my butt off to make it, so it'd better be.**

 **As you can see, I am making serious progress on the relationship between Kyon and Haruhi. I hope you're happy with that direction, cause that's the way I'm taking this story!**

 **Man, I hope I'm not moving too fast.**

 **Well, anyway, leave your comments to tell me what you thought of this chapter, and I'll see you all next time!**


	4. Chapter 4: Atop Tsuruya Mountain

The rest of the week was spent pretty normally, at least from an exterior view. Haruhi still felt really bad about hurting Tsuruya's feelings, but apparently had made up with her at some point. According to her, Tsuruya was very understanding and they patched things up nicely. It did make sense that it happened so quickly. I mean, all Tsuruya cared about was the happiness of those around her, and she'd be willing to do just about anything for them to remain happy, even throw aside her own feelings on a given subject matter. I bet she convinced Haruhi that she'd just gotten something in her eye or something, and then reconciled with her, all without even considering her own emotions.

But I guess I wasn't there, so what did I know?

Anyway, after that had been resolved, Haruhi decided to stop holding Couples' Counselling services. She wouldn't give the reason as to why, but I had a fairly confident guess that it had something to do with Tsuruya's boyfriend. But whatever; I was just glad I didn't have to play Haruhi's charade in order to glean non-existent information from poor, unsuspecting couples anymore. Of course, after she'd discontinued the counselling service, Haruhi immediately decided the next thing we should be focusing on is finding aliens through other means. It seemed she hadn't given up on finding them. I just hoped she wasn't going to continue insinuating that Tsuruya's boyfriend was an alien.

So things continued as normal that week. Taniguchi's supposed girlfriend didn't even turn up to their predetermined date, leaving him to complain to me each day that he was going to be single all his life. The SOS Brigade moved forward with the aid of Haruhi's leadership towards our goal of finding aliens, as Haruhi lectured us on how to identify extraterrestrial objects while continuing to warn us to leave time open for this weekend. I guessed that that meant we were going alien hunting then. Sounded terrific.

Yes, things certainly seemed to have returned to normal...except for one thing.

Me.

I was the only person that seemed to have been going through internal turmoil throughout the entire week, or else everyone else was doing an extraordinarily good job of hiding it. Late each night, Koizumi's words kept haunting me, keeping me awake and making me uncomfortable.

"Do you like Haruhi?" the Koizumi in my head asked me.

"No," I replied angrily, pissed that my mind had even thought that. "I like her as a friend; nothing more!"

"Are you sure?" the Koizumi in my head asked almost maliciously. I responded to my own internal question by folding the pillow over my ears and trying to go to sleep. Agh; I must have been going crazy! First I had those strange thoughts running through my head, and then I was talking to an imaginary Koizumi in my mind.

Why did I have to be going through this? Why was it always me?

...I blame Koizumi.

At any rate, regardless of any internal struggles I was going through, my life still had to continue as normal. I just felt lucky to be able to sleep in Saturday morning, even despite my sister's racket. Clenching onto my pillow as though it were my only tie to slumber, that magical place where I could forget about such troubling things as Haruhi Suzumiya, I blissfully felt myself drift off into dreamland.

Until my phone rang.

Groaning, my mind having just been rudely awakened, I woozily grabbed my phone, vaguely noting that it was Haruhi calling, and held it up to my ear.

"Hey, Kyon!" Came Haruhi's voice through my phone's speaker, her voice abundantly cheerful and full of mischief. "You ready to go alien hunting?"

"Oh, yeah?" I retorted, still somewhat mad from having been woken up so suddenly. "And what if I have plans this weekend?"

"You don't!" Haruhi replied almost deviously. "And even if you did, you would have cancelled them. Remember how I told you and everyone else in the Brigade to leave your weekends open?" Uh…vaguely. "Besides, Kyon, why would you even ask something like that? It's clear from the sound of your voice that you just woke up."

I rubbed my eyes, annoyed with her observation. "Whatever. Where are we going?"

I heard Haruhi giggle excitedly. "We're going to the world famous Tsuruya mountain!"

What? Was she talking about that mountain the Tsuruya family owned, the one that I'd scaled more times than I'd have liked, the one where I'd received chocolates from Haruhi, Asahina and Yuki at? "And you want to go there because…?"

"Well, cause there were aliens sighted there, obviously!" Haruhi snapped, her voice suggesting such a question was akin to a college graduate asking what the sum of two plus two was. "And if we want to find aliens, we've got the greatest chance there, where there was some definitive evidence of their presence!"

"Uh, Haruhi…" I sighed. "You do realize that most of those sightings are just misunderstandings, or pranks? You'd just be wasting your time by going there, and my time as well, now that I think about it."

"Oh, quit being such a killjoy, Kyon!" Haruhi scolded. "You need to start believing whole-heartedly in finding aliens, or else you're never going to! Even if there aren't any aliens there now, that doesn't mean there weren't any! Besides, the only people who're going to be allowed on the Tsuruya mountain are us! That means we get to investigate it all on our own! So get up and get your butt over to Tsuruya's place, pronto!"

I sighed, and reluctantly pulled myself out of bed. After getting dressed, having a rushed breakfast and saying goodbye to my sister, I hopped on my bike and headed as quickly as I could towards the Tsuruya mansion. I had to be fast, or else Haruhi and the rest of the brigade would be there before me. I knew we weren't going to a café this time or anything, but if I knew Haruhi, then she'd definitely find some way to punish me for being late.

Of course, however, I ended up arriving to Tsuruya's as Haruhi stared me down, impatience plastered all over her face, meaning I was at least thirty seconds later than the person who had arrived before me.

"Kyon, you're—!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know." I cut her off. I didn't need to hear Haruhi chewing me out straight after I'd ridden my bike all the way here, _directly after_ I'd woken up. Yeah, it was safe to say I wasn't feeling too good. "So…what are we going to be doing, specifically?" I asked, fearing the answer.

Haruhi rolled her eyes, her hands on her hips, clearly impatient. "Were you not listening at all this week? I've been explaining how to search for and locate evidence of aliens every day! Jeez, Kyon, pay attention more often!"

I simply stood there expressionlessly as I let Haruhi's barrage of disappointment rain down on me. I guess she had the right to do that, given that during her lectures on aliens this week, my mind had been preoccupied with…things…that I would rather have not shared with her. To summarize: I'd mostly contemplated the reasoning behind why I wanted to hug Haruhi so badly earlier this week instead of studying up on my knowledge of aliens and the like. Oh, well. I'd already spent plenty of time around aliens. Haruhi probably had a different idea of what an alien was, though.

"Anyways, we're splitting into groups!" Haruhi proclaimed, addressing all four of us. "One group of three, one of two. We'll draw straws to decide, as always." As though by magic, Haruhi then whipped out five sticks from her jacket pocket, their bottoms withheld from view as she grasped them in her hand. "Kyon, you pick first."

I sighed, dreading the possibility that I'd have to listen to more of Koizumi's babble, as I pulled a stick from Haruhi's hand. I examined it: it was shaded dark at the bottom.

"That means you're on the team with only two, Kyon!" Haruhi said, eyeing my stick. "Koizumi, you're next!"

After everyone had been divided up, it seemed the group of two would consist of myself and Asahina, while Haruhi, Koizumi and Nagato would be in the group of three.

Narrowing her eyes and scrutinizing us from a distance, Haruhi frowned at Asahina and I. "Hey, Kyon, remember, this isn't a date, alright? You two are only here to find evidence if aliens!" Yeah, yeah, I remembered that warning from the first time we'd done one of these things. Sheesh, given how much time Asahina and I had spent together and how much time Haruhi had seen us interact, you'd think she wouldn't really care that we were in the same group.

With one last almost unhappy look at Asahina and I, Haruhi walked off into the forest along one of the branching paths with Koizumi and Nagato following behind her.

I turned to Asahina. "Well, I guess we should get going, huh?" I said, motioning to the path closest to us, the one Haruhi hadn't went down.

Asahina jumped at my voice, but quickly calmed down as she followed my motions towards the path with her eyes. "Ah! Oh…oh, yes! Let's!"

Heading down the path into the forest that lined the surface of the Tsuruya family's mountain, I turned sheepishly to Asahina, who was walking beside me. "Ah…um, I hate to say it, Asahina, but I…I wasn't really paying attention during Haruhi's speeches and lectures this past week, so I don't know what we're supposed to be doing exactly. I don't want to make you carry us, but if you know what we should be doing right now, that'd be great."

Asahina simply smiled at me. "Of course! From what I could tell, you must have a lot on your mind, huh, Kyon? I understand if you weren't really listening." Oh, thank goodness. I was worried Asahina would think less of me for having done that. But then, she didn't really have the same…worshiping-type view of Haruhi that Koizumi did. She wouldn't really care whether I gave Haruhi one hundred percent of my time. "So, all we have to do is just look around for various things that would look out of place…I think…oh, wait, maybe not…? Ah, I don't know! I'm sorry, Kyon!"

I put my hands up to calm her. "It's fine, Asahina. We're not going to find anything anyway, so what does it really matter whether we do exactly what Haruhi wants us to?"

Asahina giggled. "Well, you never know just what Suzumiya will do!" she said with a wink.

Asahina, please. You're being too adorable.

As we continued walking, I absent-mindedly looked around for any evidence of aliens, my thoughts internally wandering. Somehow, much to my dismay, Haruhi began filling them, as well as thoughts and memories concerning her. The memories of her giving me chocolates, both when I'd dug them up last year and when I'd received them just last week, the memories of her and me holding hands by the fountains, and the memories of Monday when I'd held her in my arms as she cried.

"Agh!" I cried, grabbing fistfuls of my hair in frustration. "No! Stop thinking about those things, you idiot!"

Suddenly I became acutely and uncomfortably aware that I had voiced my thoughts aloud, and that Asahina had plainly heard.

Wonderful.

"Kyon?" Asahina asked, her voice full of concern. "Are you alright?"

I groaned, running my fingers through my hair. "No, I…I've just had a lot to think about this past week. It's sort of been…messing with my head."

"Is it about what Koizumi-kun talked about on Monday?" Asahina asked perceptively. "About you having feelings for Suzumiya and her having feelings for you?"

I glanced at Asahina's concerned expression. Heh…for however flustered and ditzy our little Asahina could be, she always seemed to be on top of things enough to be concerned for others. Just like how when Haruhi was having problems last week, Asahina told me about Tsuruya's boyfriend for the first time. She could really pull through when it came to helping people.

I nodded slowly as I sat down on a nearby rock. "I just…I've been thinking about what he said…about how Koizumi has been noticing changes in the relationship between Haruhi and me recently. He pointed out how I react to her, and how these things appeared to be symptoms of being in love." I confessed as Asahina sat down beside me. Huh. I guess I was using Asahina as someone to talk to, then. Whatever. Asahina seemed like a willing participant, and I needed that right about now. "So I thought about those sorts of things myself…and I realized he was right. I…I do react to holding Haruhi's hand, or her in my arms, as though I was in love with her. My face heats up, my heartbeat quickens, and all I can think about is her."

I placed my face in my hands, groaning uncomfortably. Why did this have to be happening to me? Why couldn't things just be simple and normal?

Asahina placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. "Well, is that a bad thing? I myself have never been in love, but from what Tsuruya tells me, it's an absolutely wonderful feeling. Why wouldn't you want it?" Asahina paused pensively. "Or is it because you're feeling this way about Suzumiya specifically?"

I nodded, my hands still cupping my face. "Yes. That's exactly the problem. It's Haruhi. We've never been like that. We've never been…'romantically entangled' as Koizumi put it. It's just…how can Haruhi and I continue whatever our relationship is with _this_ getting in the way? How can I still see Haruhi in the same light now? All I see when I look at her now is…well, she's still Haruhi, I guess, but…something's different. And I just wish it wasn't different."

A brief silence filled the air between Asahina and I before she spoke again. "Do you want to be with her?" Asahina finally asked, her face a strange mix of concern and comfort.

"Do I…what?" I repeated confusedly. "What do you mean?"

"Well, you keep saying that it's bad for you to feel this way." Asahina noted thoughtfully. "But, like, is it really? I mean, is it really so bad that you like her that way?"

Was it? Huh…I'd always thought of Haruhi one way and one way alone…the idea that my image of her would change was terrifying. I didn't want it to happen. I wanted Haruhi and I to stay the way we were for the rest of our days. But…was Asahina right? Could I go on with a changed view of Haruhi?

I chuckled as I brought my head up. "Honestly, Asahina, I don't even know if I completely do like Haruhi that way. But…if I do, then I'll try to take your advice." I smiled at the petite time traveller. She smiled back. "And, hey, since when did you become an emotional expert?"

Asahina giggled. "Well, when you've dealt with what Tsuruya gives me, I think you find that you just deal with these kinds of things easier."

I stood up, hope newly found in my eyes. "Alright. I'm feeling a bit better now. Thanks, Asahina. Now, what do you say we find some evidence of aliens?!" I cried determinedly.

Suffice it to say we did not find any evidence of aliens. I guess that was expected, though. Expected by everyone but Haruhi, it would seem.

After Asahina and I had returned and had met up with Haruhi, Koizumi and Nagato, I had to reluctantly take up the duty of reporting to Haruhi that we were empty-handed. As expected, Haruhi gave both Asahina and I a pretty sharp verbal beating. I then retaliated with the exact same question Haruhi had asked us, leaving her to stubbornly admit that they too were without alien evidence. Then Haruhi announced we were taking a lunch break at Tsuruya's place and that I was paying. Yeah, that made a load of sense, me paying for the food being provided free of charge by a friend.

I guess that I deserved it for testing Haruhi with that earlier retaliation, though.

Heading inside, Tsuruya was already seated at the table, her expression jovial and our food already prepared and served. Either she and Haruhi had set this up earlier at some point, or Tsuruya was being extra nice and Haruhi extra rude. Either one was possible, really.

"Heya, you guys!" Tsuruya greeted us cheerfully as we began to seat ourselves at her table. "You must be tired from all of that hard work, huh? Well, fear not! I've had food and drink prepared for you!"

Honestly, the only "hard work" I'd done was wander around the woods on a mountain for a while, but for some free food, something I didn't really get anymore thanks to Haruhi, I'd take it without complaint.

Sitting down, we began to dig into our lunch and drinks, while Haruhi began discussing further tactics we could employ during the afternoon segment of our hunt for evidence of aliens. My brain just shut down as she went into the more useless details, and I instead found myself focusing on the delicious flavor of Tsuruya's food as my eyes lingered on Haruhi's excited expression. Heh…it was the kind of expression she got when she was really invested in whatever she was doing. It went well with the passionate flavor of the food I was enjoying.

Eventually, I broke out of my trance and realized Haruhi had been talking to me. Whoops.

"Kyon!" Haruhi called loudly, piercing my apparent deafness. "W-Why are you staring at me like that? Do I have something on my face?" I couldn't help but notice the slight blush tinting Haruhi's cheeks as I failed to stop myself from staring. At least I was paying attention to what she was saying.

"Sorry, sorry," I apologized hastily. "I was, uh...lost in thought."

Suddenly, before Haruhi could respond, a doorbell rang through the house. Tsuruya's eyes lit up, a smile quickly grew on her face, and she jumped to her feet. "Oh! He's here! Yay!" With that, Tsuruya bolted for the door, before catching herself. Stopping, she glanced over her shoulder at Haruhi. "Oh, and I know you're not very fond of my boyfriend, Haruhi, so I'll try to keep you two far apart, okay?"

Haruhi was momentarily without words, like a car stalling on a cold winter's morning, until she finally managed to speak. "O-Oh! That's…that's fine, Tsuruya! We'll be toiling away outside all afternoon anyways, so it doesn't really matter much to us! Feel free to use your house to your heart's content." Haruhi granted Tsuruya, as though the use of her own home was something that required Tsuruya to obtain Haruhi's permission.

"Thanks!" Tsuruya said with a wink, before sprinting off with an excited giggle. I smiled as I watched her run off to meet her boyfriend. It was probably a delight to be able to have someone like that to anticipate meeting, I thought off-handedly.

With Tsuruya gone, there was new space made at the table, and seeing as I was feeling a bit cramped sitting at the smaller end of it, I decided to change seats to be beside Asahina on the lengthier side. Aaahhh, that was much better on my cramped legs.

Haruhi was now sitting directly across from me, instead of to my right, a larger distance now separating us. I, being seated opposite her, found it difficult to pull my eyes away and was forced to meet her now irritated gaze. Sheesh, what had gotten her all annoyed? Maybe she'd just returned her face to neutral; irritation was Haruhi's default face, after all. Or it could have been the mere fact that Tsuruya's boyfriend was here now, as inferred due to the obvious fact that she despised him.

Except she was glaring deliberately at _me_. Well, at Asahina, too, I noticed as I watched her eyes dart from the tiny time traveller to me and back again. Was she…mad at us? Maybe it was because we hadn't found anything on our morning expedition. But then she hadn't found anything either, unless she was ignoring that fact and was being hypocritical. Agh, who knew?! For all of Koizumi's praise of my apparent ability to read Haruhi, I was really finding it difficult to know what she felt.

The lunch break went on without incident, however, and despite Haruhi's occasional discontent glare at either me, Asahina, or the two of us, I found it rather enjoyable. It was nice to sit around and talk, and we even managed to have some semi-normal conversations, something that was rare whenever Haruhi was involved in one.

After we'd all finished, Haruhi stood up definitively and announced in an authoritative voice, "Alright! That's enough sitting around! Time to get back out there and get some results!"

And so, walking behind Haruhi as she exited the building like some strange band of ducklings following a deluded mother duck, the SOS Brigade members headed to the edge of the mountain once again, ready to blindly follow orders as had become our custom.

Just as before, we gathered in a circle as Haruhi produced a handful of sticks, the bottoms of which were once again concealed from view. "Alright, just like before: pick one. If it's marked, you're in the group of two. If it's unmarked, you're in the group of three. Koizumi, you go first."

Without so much as a nod of accordance, Koizumi plucked an unmarked stick from Haruhi's hand. Haruhi then urged Asahina to go next. The clumsy maid received another unmarked stick. It seemed she and Koizumi were to be partners. Would I join them? Honestly, with Haruhi subconsciously at the wheel, it wasn't even up to fate to decide. I honestly just hoped I wouldn't get stuck having to listen to Koizumi's irritating tangents, though as I previously established, that was really all up to Haruhi.

Haruhi, though, instead of picking me to go next, ordered Nagato to pick. Silently selecting one of the three remaining sticks, Nagato joined Asahina and Koizumi in the supernatural group. It would seem Haruhi had subconsciously decided I didn't deserve the punishment of talking with Koizumi.

"Well, looks like you're with me, Kyon!" Haruhi exclaimed, a twinkle in her eye. "Are you ready to find alien evidence? Cause I won't tolerate a half-baked attitude!"

"Oh, Suzumiya?" Koizumi said, preventing me from responding. "Apparently a heavy storm is rolling in quickly. We probably shouldn't be out here for more than an hour or so, or else risk getting swept away by the potential mudslides or rushing water."

"Got it!" Haruhi said, giving Koizumi a thumbs up. Why was she doing that? He was delivering news of an oncoming storm, not of a day off from school. "Time limits set by nature are the best! They're always fluctuating, making them harder to predict! Maybe we'll get stuck in a cave somewhere!"

"I'd prefer to come back before the torrential flooding, actually," I said dryly.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, Kyon," Haruhi said dismissively. "I'm not going to be an idiot and actually let us get caught in the storm. But don't you think it'd be fun to experience that?"

Uh oh. If Haruhi thought something like that was fun, it very well could end up happening. I had to keep my guard up. "We'll be back in forty-five minutes." I told Koizumi, and also indirectly warned Haruhi. Koizumi nodded while Haruhi gave me a reluctant harumph.

And so we split up, with Koizumi taking on the role of leader of the group of three as they ventured off to climb the left side of the mountain, leaving Haruhi and I to take the right. As we began our ascent up the mountainside, I began to notice my feet were starting to ache as a result of having used them to climb up and down a mountain for a few hours. I was glad for the exercise, sure, but then I climbed a hill every day just to get to school, and it wasn't like this was a leisurely hike or anything. Haruhi was actively urging me to pick up the pace, both in anticipation of the coming storm and of the potential alien evidence find. But given that even despite Haruhi's desires to find some piece of an alien spacecraft or something else along those lines we were likely going to come back empty handed, I was becoming less and less enthusiastic, and soon all I could think about was how much I didn't want to be doing this. But in the SOS Brigade Haruhi's word was law, so I climbed the mountain in stony silence while Haruhi scrutinized every semi-remarkable rock and tree she came across.

My thoughts began to wander as we slowly ascended the slope to points where the trees were becoming more scarce. I recalled some of the instances where Haruhi's petty desires ended up becoming a reality unbeknownst to her, such as the Mikuru beam that nearly ended my life during the shooting of her delusional movie, or even how I was placed in a position in our short-lived baseball team that gave me the duty of earning us the decisive victory. Even the little things Haruhi wanted, she got. Heck, it seemed to _only_ be the little things that Haruhi ever got, which a few exceptions.

The reason I was thinking about this was because I was worried about the previous conversation Haruhi had just had with Koizumi on the topic of the oncoming storm. She had noted that it'd be "fun" if she could experience what it'd be like to get caught in a heavy storm. My mind couldn't help but recall our trip to the mansion on the island, when Haruhi had unwittingly brought a storm onto us, effectively trapping us indoors, all because she wanted a closed loop. If Haruhi thought it'd be cool to get stuck in a storm on the Tsuruya mountain, then it very well could happen. And trust me, I really hoped it didn't. I didn't need to get stuck on a mountainside while a storm came down on top of us. It would seem I'd need to keep a close eye on the time. Twenty or so minutes in, then I was calling it quits.

Trudging up the steep slopes, I cast a wary upwards glance at the approaching dark clouds, which were covering up half of the sky as they came closer, like an army spreading across the battlefield. Man…it was not looking promising up there. We may have to call it a day early, I noted aloud.

"What?" Haruhi cried in protest. Ugh; I knew she wasn't going to like that. Here came her sternly worded rebuttal. "Kyon, you can't roll over and show your tummy to the first little storm that shows up! You've got to stand your ground, and look it firmly in the eyes, showing no chance of faltering! Besides, I can't just ask to use Tsuruya's mountain a second day in a row. That would be far too rude. Today's our only chance to get some results, so get to searching, and forget about some stupid storm!"

First off, the storm wasn't exactly "little", second off, storms didn't even have minds to match in willpower, much less eyes to look firmly into, and third off, since when did she care about not being rude?

"Tsuruya's a good friend of the Brigade. I can't ignore that! We have to honor it, and show her our respect. That means not bothering her two days in a row!"

"Fine," I conceded. "Does that mean we don't have to do this again tomorrow?"

Haruhi's response came in the form of a ridiculing chuckle, making it immediately clear what her answer was going to be. "Are you kidding? We're the SOS Brigade! We don't give up after one day! Our search will continue tomorrow, just not here."

"But I thought this was where aliens were sighted." I said. "Where else would we even go?"

"Do you really think this mountain is the only place aliens were sighted? We're headed someplace else where there were reported sightings, of course!"

I sighed. Of course. There were never days off for SOS Brigade members.

Suddenly, I felt tiny bombardments of water hit the top of my skin, like a shower of miniature bullets from above. They were nothing too remarkable, but it was enough to get me to look skyward, towards there source. Indeed, the rain was already upon us.

Crap.

"Huh?" Haruhi said in reaction to the tiny downpour of rain that began to shower lightly across the mountainside, voicing aloud my initial thoughts. "Its raining already? But we barely even saw anything remarkable!"

"That's weird," I remarked as I squinted into the sky. The clouds which I had observed as covering only around half of the sky earlier were now totally dominating it, turning the horizon into a blurry mess of distant rain. "Koizumi said an hour would be fine, and it's only been about twenty minutes or so. How come the storm's already here?"

"I don't know," Haruhi replied unhelpfully.

"We should head back," I told Haruhi, slight urgency creeping in on my voice. My earlier conjecture was re-entering my thoughts. What if we really did get caught in a bad storm? But then, a storm as bad as that was incredibly unlikely, considering the average intensity storms got. It was simply me being paranoid, entertaining such an improbable outcome. And yet, if Haruhi wanted it to, it could happen. But why would she want such a storm like that to happen?

"Sure, but what's the hurry, Kyon? Rain is good for the environment, you know?" Haruhi said, almost happily, in stark contrast to my increasing concern. She almost seemed…eager for the storm to hit us.

That didn't bode well. I had to get us off that mountain before Haruhi repeated the Mikuru beam and almost got me killed. My mind made up, I quickly grabbed Haruhi's wrist, prepared to yank her all the way back down the mountain, when suddenly—

A bolt of lightning not twenty meters away struck a tree, sending blinding light and deafening sound across the mountainside, and knocking me unconscious.

I woke up some time later, with a somewhat dazed and startled feeling stuck in my chest. The events that had led to me getting knocked unconscious weren't exactly readily present in my mind as I slowly became aware, leaving my shocked feeling unexplained and thereby causing some confusion to be added to the mix of things I was already feeling. But that was on an internal level. Physically, I could feel a good deal of jostling, as well as two hands squeezing the life out of my arms, as though some bully was roughing me up for cash by shaking me around until some coins fell out of my pockets.

Opening my eyes as I slowly regained consciousness, I was greeted by the sight of Haruhi's pained and concerned expression directly in front of my face. It moved side to side and up and down, though I soon realized that that was due to the fact that my body (and head by extension) was being shook around violently by the very person whose teary eyes I was staring into.

"Haru…hi?" I managed to say despite the jostling my body was receiving. Immediately, upon the utterance of her name, Haruhi stopped shaking me, and dropped my rather roughly to the ground, her hands covering her mouth.

"Kyon!" She cried, tears streaming down her cheeks, before grabbing my body in a hug. "You're alive! You're alive! I-I thought you were dead!" She sobbed into my shoulder as she wrapped her arms desperately around my torso.

If you're wondering why I was being so unresponsive to the fact that Haruhi was clinging to me and crying into my shoulder, it was partially due to both the fact that I was still fairly dazed after having just been narrowly struck by lightning, and the fact that my right ear was experiencing unmitigated ringing, as though the fire alarm at North High was going off directly beside it. Still, as much as I was only somewhat aware of Haruhi desperately hugging me tighter than a boa constrictor, I retrospectively did enjoy it. Dammit, even after a near-death experience, I still had to confuse myself with strange emotions?!

Finally, I returned to the present, and placed my hands on Haruhi's waist, not really sure where else to place them. I will admit, disregarding the fact that it was Haruhi sitting on my lap and embracing me so vigorously, I felt fairly awkward to be in that position with a girl. It was almost like a situation the protagonist of some harem anime got himself into, just for someone else to waltz in and get the wrong idea. The difference here was that I had nearly just died, and there was no one to walk in on us and call me a pervert.

Finally, after it seemed Haruhi had used up her tear glands and vocal chords on my shoulder, she pulled away, and stared at me, a grateful smile on her face. I was honestly shocked that she'd even reacted in that way to me. I knew Asahina probably would have cried like that, but I was certain all Haruhi would have done was…well, actually, what would she have done? I guess exactly what Asahina would do, as it would seem.

"Haruhi?" I asked, rubbing the spot on my shoulder that was now soaking with her tears, feeling still a bit dazed.

Haruhi began to blush as I stared at her, but gave me a relieved smile. "Kyon…I can't believe you're alive."

Me neither. "Sorry for worrying you," I said almost automatically. It had kind of become second nature to say something like that to Haruhi, who never faulted herself, unfortunately. I figured she'd want to hear me apologize.

"What are you saying, idiot?" Haruhi snapped, years welling up in her eyes again. "Why should you apologize? I was the one who got you to come out here…I was the one who said we should climb the mountain again in the afternoon…I was the one who almost got you killed…" Tears began falling heavily from Haruhi's face as she bent over in self-deprecation.

"What?" I said almost immediately. Why was she blaming herself? "You're not the one to blame, Haruhi. You didn't cause that lightning bolt to drop. You didn't even know the storm would touch us. No one thought it would!" I said, grabbing her shoulders gently to pull her up and face me. "Listen, Haruhi: I don't want to see you cry. Ever. And especially not when it's unwarranted. So don't blame yourself, please."

Haruhi sniffed, rubbing her sleeve across her face to wipe her tears off. "R-Right…I'm the Brigade Chief; I have to be strong. I can't let the enemy see my tears!"

Who the enemy she was referring to was, I didn't know.

"Well, no sense sticking around here. What do you say we get back to lower ground?" I asked, standing up. I extended a hand to Haruhi who looked up at me, her eyes red and moist from the tears. Though I didn't want to, I couldn't help but acknowledge how beautiful she was, even despite the fact that she was just crying. She was looked so fragile, sitting there on the ground. That delicate fragility awakened something in me, gave me a strong urge to protect her, and to never let her cry again. My previous words to her on the subject of her crying were now more valid to me than ever. I needed to protect and help Haruhi at all costs, just like a good SOS Brigade member was supposed to do. Just like _I_ was supposed to do.

Just like I wanted to do.

"C'mon," I said, giving Haruhi a determined smile, my hand still extended out to her. "I promise I won't scare you like that again."

Haruhi at last took my hand, and I pulled her up to face me. She returned my smile, sniffing away the final traces of her previous sobbing session. "Then I'll hold you to that promise." She said, giving me a typical Haruhi grin.

We quickly trekked down the mountainside, our eyes wary and vigilant for any static electricity building up in the storm clouds above us, though I was pretty sure it was impossible to detect something like that. Disregarding that, however, the walk down was strangely pleasant, given the previous disaster. In contrast to the booming thunder and luminous lightning, the rain was very light, and dispersed across the landscape so evenly that it felt enjoyable to walk in. But my focus wasn't on the rain. It was, of course, on Haruhi.

For some reason, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't keep my eyes off of her. She was like a magnet to my eyes, and every time I glanced at her, she always seemed to be sneaking looks at me, too. I could feel my cheeks heating up more and more each time our gazes met. Agh, why was I glancing at her so much? She must think I'm a total creep!

And now I suddenly was caring so much about what she was thinking of me! Had a really grown that fond of Haruhi? I kind of thought that after my talk with Asahina, these troublesome feelings might at least wane a bit. But here they were, in full force, causing me to drift ever closer to Haruhi as we hiked down the slope. I felt sweat staining every crevasse of my body, and I knew my face must have been as red as the surface of Mars, and I knew that Haruhi probably thought it was really weird that I was getting closer and closer to her, but—!

Oh.

We were holding hands again.

We were holding hands again?!

I began to internally explode with the force of an atomic bomb as I felt Haruhi's velvety soft skin wrap around mine, and the warmth from her hand heat up my own. I was certain anyone who were to look at me might have thought I had just gotten out of a sauna, but I also was finding it incredibly difficult to pull away.

But Haruhi didn't pull away.

In strange contrast to our earlier espionage mission, she'd pulled away from me almost immediately after she'd realized we had been holding hands, and yet now…I was certain she was aware our fingers were intertwined. And yet she left her hand interlocked with mine. Was she enjoying it? Was she feeling too awkward to do anything?

A daunting realization hit me: the only way I was going to know was if I looked at her expression. Whether she hated it or not, I would only know by visual confirmation.

But I couldn't! The prospect of even a millisecond-long glance at Haruhi's face was like standing at the edge of Everest. I knew it shouldn't have felt that hard, but unfortunately, some part of my mind told me it was.

And yet, what if she liked it?

This one question prompted me to hazard a sidelong glance at Haruhi, my heart a jackhammer in my ribcage and my body a machine of perspiration as my mind became overrun with all the possible expressions this seemingly tiny, miniscule action would result in.

And what did I see? Well, if there had been a mirror in front of me, I imagine I would see the exact same face Haruhi was making: one of nervousness, embarrassment, with a hint of enjoyment mixed in. Wait—enjoyment?! Had I seen that right? There was no way, though—

My thoughts were immediately cut off by an overly pleasant voice. "I guess it must have gotten pretty cold up there, then."

Almost instantly, Haruhi pulled her hand away from mine, and, with my eyes still lingering on her face, attempted to regain an expression of her typical confidence and determination, though did so fairly poorly. "Ah! Y-yes, it was! A-And hey, Koizumi, you lied! That storm was on us in no time! Kyon was—er…"

Koizumi, who as I pulled my eyes away from Haruhi to focus on the three remaining brigade members was giving me his usual irritating smile, rubbed his neck with unconvincing shame. "Is that right? I'm very sorry, in that case. But I guess then the storm must have just grazed a portion of the mountain, as Asahina, Nagato and I remained dry throughout the whole experience. Unfortunately, Asahina received a bruised ankle along the way, and so we were forced to return early for medical assistance. I'm glad that our mishap worked to our advantage, though, or else you two would have had to call us back, thereby waiting indefinitely in the process."

Haruhi sighed wistfully as her body visibly drooped. "Well, I'm afraid I can't just ask Tsuruya to search her mountain a second time; that would be too rude, so it looks like this place was a bust. Sorry, everyone. Dismissed!"

Koizumi responded cordially, Asahina stuttered her acknowledgement and subsequent goodbye, and Nagato gave in response the most microscopic of nods. With that, the three headed off of the Tsuruya grounds, leaving Haruhi and I alone.

Unfortunately I would not be given any breathing room yet, as it would seem, when Tsuruya bounded out into her backyard, arm in arm with her boyfriend. They stopped as soon as they noticed as, there initial joyful laughter dying quickly. Uh oh. After what had happened on Monday, I dared not looked at Haruhi's face. Who knew what rage was painted on it? I decided to check her opponent's reaction. To my surprise, however, Tsuruya's boyfriend's expression was rather tame, all things considered, though some fear and hesitation seemed to be residing on it. I only wondered what resolve this man had in order to stand his ground in front of Haruhi's unbridled anger.

"Oh, hey, Tsuruya! Did you enjoy your date?" Haruhi asked cheerfully.

Wait, what?

I glanced discreetly at Haruhi, and lo and behold, she was completely unfazed by the fact that her mortal foe was now present in front of her. Either she was the queen of all actors, or she really had buried the hatchet. Although, if any hatchets had been buried at any point, it must have been one-sided, given that the look on Tsuruya's boyfriend's face was one of tension, fear, rage and preparation for the worst. Tsuruya merely seemed to share the last of her boyfriend's previously mentioned sentiments on her face.

"O-Oh; it was fantastic! We left after lunch, so we wouldn't disturb you if you decided to come back early and hang around. Say, did you guys find those alien thingies or whatever?" Tsuruya said.

"Unfortunately, we came up empty-handed." Haruhi reported, purposefully emphasizing her dismay. "We got rained on midway through, and had to call it quits. Heck, it's still raining! Probably just gonna head home now."

"Aw, sorry," Tsuruya apologized unnecessarily. "It's too bad the clouds decided to cry on you. They really did come out of left field. Actually, I'm pretty sure the forecast didn't even mention rain. Weird."

"Well, we won't bother searching through your family's mountain again, cause that would be too rude, right Kyon?" Haruhi said in a somewhat sped-up and hasty fashion. She was probably just hoping to avoid a response from the ever-so-generous Tsuruya saying that she was perfectly fine with allowing us to reuse her family's mountain. Tsuruya, being so caring, would be undoubtedly eager to lend us the mountain, and Haruhi, feeling similarly about Tsuruya, would indubitably be obstinate about refusing it.

"Yeah," I said blandly, disliking Haruhi's clear emphasis. "We'll be leaving, I guess. See you, Tsuruya. And boyfriend."

"Bye, Kyon! Bye, Haru-nyan!" Tsuruya waved us goodbye as we exited the Tsuruya premises, her overly cheerful extra goodbyes dying off as Haruhi and I slowly distanced ourselves. Heading off in the direction of my house, I prepared to give Haruhi a considerably less enthusiastic goodbye in comparison to Tsuruya's, but stopped myself when Haruhi continued to walk alongside me. It occurred to me that I didn't know where she lived. She must be heading home, just like I was. Huh. We were walking side by side once again. Funny.

"…I notice you didn't mention me nearly dying to Koizumi," I said, breaking the silence in the air. I gave Haruhi an inquisitive look as I shot her a sidelong glance.

"Yeah, well…" Haruhi began, ostensibly unprepared for the indirect question. "You weren't seriously injured, and I didn't need to worry everyone else with unimportant details, especially ones that would only make everybody worry. Just imagine how Mikuru might have responded to news like that!"

Ah. So I guess my near-death experience amounted only to "unimportant details", then, I said dryly to Haruhi.

"Wha—oh, come on; you know that's not what I meant!" Haruhi huffed impatiently.

"I know, I know…" I said. I began to think back to after I'd woken up from my unconscious state, only to find Haruhi desperately jostling my body. "I…I hope I didn't scare you too much back there."

"Oh, it was a bit frightening at first, but once you'd woken up, I was fine." Haruhi said dismissively.

I raised an eyebrow. "Really? But you were clinging to me and sobbing into my shoulder, even after I'd regained consciousness. You sure you weren't at least a little concerned for me?"

Haruhi's cheeks began to redden as I subconsciously leaned toward her. "Sure, b-but, only as the Brigade leader, alright? Don't get any dumb, perverted ideas about how I was…er…c-clinging to you, got it?" She yelled, pointing an almost accusatory finger at me, weak though it was.

"P-Perverted ideas?!" I repeated incredulously. "I'll have you know, I pride myself on having the most pure thoughts at all times."

"What about Mikuru?" Haruhi asked, her tone newly a mix of sincere concern and morose accusation.

What? Why was she asking me about Asahina? What did that have to do with what we were talking about? "Uh…what do you mean, 'what about Asahina?'" I asked.

"You know what I mean!" Haruhi cried impatiently. "Like, have you ever thought about her in that way?" I couldn't help but notice Haruhi's increasingly reddening face as her volume rose proportionately. I could also sense some formerly withheld questions being released like water from a dam, high-speed and dangerous.

"W-What, like r-romantically?" I stuttered, attempting to ignore the growing blush on my cheeks.

Haruhi glared at me, and opened her mouth, as though she was a bomb about to off, until—she stopped herself, backing down and hiding her expression behind a curtain of hair. I tried to peer past it at her eyes, but she resolutely avoided my gaze. "Forget it. It doesn't matter to me. It doesn't matter whether you like her or not! Love is just some stupid tactic to get humans to reproduce, anyway!"

Anger and some sadness edging in on her voice, Haruhi seemed to decide she'd had enough, and promptly bolted across the street, dashed along the sidewalk, and then vanished around a corner, leaving me all alone.

And I simply stood there, dumbfounded, doing my best to ignore the fact that I'd noticed tears welling up in her eyes.

 **Well, there's chapter number four. I'm not particularly proud of it, at least not as much as the other chapters, but maybe you guys will love it. Or you'll hate it. I'm not gonna know one way or the other which it is, though, if you guys don't tell me, so be sure to let me know what you thought of this chapter please!**

… **I got nothing else to say.**

 **Until next time!**


	5. Chapter 5: An Internal Revelation

Orange, red, yellow, pink...such colours were those that made up the gradient surrounding the setting sun, eventually fading into a sullen blue. They reminded me of how just a few minutes ago, Haruhi's vibrant and passionate personality faded into a sulky, upset, gloomy outburst, as though foreshadowing my own melancholy. Internally remarking on the fitting symbolism of the colours in the sky, I pushed onwards on my way home, my most recent conversation with Haruhi still echoing in my mind.

What had she said? "Forget it. It doesn't matter to me. It doesn't matter whether you like her or not! Love is just some stupid tactic to get humans to reproduce, anyway!" Haruhi's emotion-filled yell filled my mind as I recalled her parting words.

Why had she even gotten so upset? What had I said to her to make her react that way? I don't have even the slightest idea. I was probably the last person to ask for advice on _regular_ girls; trying to understand Haruhi sometimes was like attempting university-level algebra problems after having dropped out of high school.

But the question of why Haruhi had yelled at me out of the blue and then ran off wasn't the highest on my priority list. No, the question that was bugging me the most had to do with my earlier conversation with Asahina.

Did I love Haruhi Suzumiya?

The immediate answer that reached my lips was no, as it always had been. That was how I responded to the very same question Taniguchi asked me every so often, to the curious inquiries of those underclassmen only somewhat knowledgeable on the subject of Haruhi Suzumiya, and to the nonchalant asking of the various teachers I met with on a daily basis. It was basically my go-to response, and I'd never really given it much more thought than that.

But now?

Now I wasn't so sure. Koizumi himself had noted my display of the known symptoms of being in love earlier this week, and unfortunately, I was forced to admit those observations were correct. Every reaction I gave in regards to Haruhi, whether it was something as small as borrowing an eraser from her or something as large as hugging her while she reciprocated the action (which at this point had happened more times than I'd ever conceived of happening) was objectively one of a love-struck high school boy. But those were all just physical. What did I feel on the emotional side?

That was indeed the problem. That was exactly the question Koizumi asked me after Haruhi's shouting contest with Tsuruya's boyfriend. I thought of Haruhi in my head. What did I think of her?

She was bright, talented, strong, smart, and undeniably beautiful, even from an objective standpoint. From an outsider's perspective, she looked to be the epitome of the ideal girl. But she was, to the disappointment of most around her, essentially insane. She'd go on and on about aliens, time travellers and espers, and would basically call anyone she deemed unworthy of her time the equivalent of trash beneath her feet.

But she was more than that. Much more than just a talented girl with crazy obsessions. She was a caring friend, and enthusiastic leader, an exuberant adventurer, and most imprint of all, she was Haruhi Suzumiya.

Haruhi Suzumiya, the girl whose blindingly bright eyes full of hope and wonder never failed to set my heart thumping. Haruhi Suzumiya, the girl who I'd shared countless adventures with, both the perilous and the simple. Haruhi Suzumiya, the girl who completed my life to such a degree that a reality in which she didn't exist was an unbearable possibility to me.

Haruhi Suzumiya, the girl I loved.

...

Damnit.

Dammit, dammit, dammit!

"Hey, Kyon!"

Are you kidding me.

My eyes twitching in incredulous irritation upon hearing the voice I'd planned to avoiding hearing until Haruhi indirectly forced me to tomorrow. Turning my head ever so slightly, my pleads of denial dying as I realized the truth, my eyes were met with the vastly unwanted sight of Itsuki Koizumi, who was in the process of crossing the street as he waved to me, his expectedly pleasant smile still plastered on his face. Trust me, words could not express how much I didn't want him here right now.

"What the hell do you want?" I growled through clenched teeth. After my recent revelation, one my feelings on which were ambivalent at best, the last thing I needed was for Koizumi to waltz up to me and mess with my head some more.

Shaking off my frankly rude response, Koizumi joined me in walking along the sidewalk. "Well, I just wanted to say hi, really. We didn't exactly get much of a chance to hang out one-on-one today, what with our unfortunate groupings, so I figured I'd just chat with you now."

Is that right? "What do you actually want to talk with me about, huh? Just get to the point already."

Koizumi chuckled. "Perceptive as always." He breathed out a sigh, tilting his gaze upwards to the distant sky, his grin becoming almost melancholic. "Well, as you are well aware, it is in my nature and a part of my job to be observant of those around me. That means watching each and every Brigade member, yourself included. In fact, you're higher on the list of priorities for observing than most others. And as this is the case, today, just as I have done every other day I've had ample opportunity, I observed you; your mannerisms, speech, behaviour, actions, word choice, etc...and I could certainly tell...Kyon, what exactly happened on that mountain with Suzumiya to get you so shaken up?"

So he noticed, huh? Of course he did. Leave it to the over-analytical Koizumi to crack any case. "Well..." I began hesitantly, somewhat unsure of where to start. I decided to start with my talk with Asahina, something that had been weighing on my mind considerably since it had occurred. It certainly seemed to be affecting me even now, as evidenced by my previous revelation. After I'd gone over that, I moved on to the actual incident itself: the heavenly bolt of electricity that sent me flying into...well, several minutes after. Then I did my best to explain Haruhi's meltdown on top of me, something which frankly had rattled me more than the lightning did, before rushing through the moment Haruhi and I held hands yet again as we walked down the path.

"You were struck by a lightning bolt?" Koizumi remarked, his voice a tone I found hard to place. Was he concerned? Impressed? Surprised? "And you're certain that you're alright? No need to perform medical procedures?"

"Relax, alright?" I said exhaustedly. I didn't really feel like explaining all over again how I miraculously underwent no injuries after being flung across a mountain by a bolt of electricity.

"Well, if you say so." Koizumi shrugged. "And you said it was around twenty meters away or so? Yet still powerful enough to knock you unconscious from that distance. It must have been Suzumiya's doing..." Koizumi noted wistfully.

I gave him an incredulous look. "Are you kidding me? Haruhi sent that bolt of lightning down on me?"

"No, no," Koizumi shook his head hastily. "I suspect that it was just another lightning bolt, stretching down from the cloud to the easily reachable mountain. What I mean is that Suzumiya likely influenced it in some manner to allow you to withstand its blast with only minor injuries."

Sheesh. Was he going to blame everything that happened to me on Haruhi? It seemed like every little detail in my life now could be traced back to her. "So, what else happened today that was caused by her, huh? I'm just dying to know, now that we're on the subject."

"It's funny you should mention that," Koizumi said, either ignoring my sarcasm or missing it entirely. "There were actually several instances today that I believe were caused by Suzumiya. For example, you'll recall that the first picking placed you and Asahina alone in the group of two, yes?" Yep, I did indeed remember that. "And did you also notice the strange looks Suzumiya was giving you and Asahina during our break?"

"Yeah," I replied, recalling Haruhi's weird glares. "I wasn't sure whether it was just me or Asahina too, though."

"Well, assuming my earlier theory on Suzumiya's feelings towards you is correct, I believe that she was getting jealous of Asahina, who had been spending the whole morning alone with you, doing who-knows-what, before sitting beside you during our break."

Jealous? Haruhi? That was like mixing orange juice and toothpaste. Haruhi never cared about anything anyone else had, at least not on an emotional level like I assumed Koizumi was implying.

"Again going by the assumption that my theory is correct, it is therefore reasonable to assume that Suzumiya subconsciously rigged the second drawing to place you and her alone in the group of two, both distancing you from Asahina and allowing for you and her to spend time together. Then, she brought the storm barrelling down on us; whether it was for her own amusement or for the ultimate goal of spending an extended period of time with you or both I don't know. Regardless, she did indeed get to spend more time with you, though not, I expect, in the way she had anticipated. Though, based on what you've told me about the events succeeding your close encounter with a lightning strike, it seems that your relationship has grown excellently."

"Hold on, hold on!" I exclaimed, glaring at Koizumi. "My relationship with Haruhi isn't like that, alright? She doesn't see me that way."

"But you see her that way, correct?" Koizumi retaliated.

I shot him daggers, before groaning and putting my head in my hands. Did I? Had my view of Haruhi truly changed to that degree? Was I really just another love struck high schooler, pining after a girl way out of his league?

"..."

"Yes."

Koizumi simply remained smiling as always. "As I expected."

Again, I gave him a sidelong glance of pure irritation. "So? I like Haruhi! Now you know! Are you satisfied now? Gonna go now?"

"I simply have a proposition for you, now that you have admitted your feelings, which I do applaud you for doing, by the way." Koizumi said. "I believe you should ask Suzumiya out on a date tomorrow."

I blinked. "A date? Are you insane?!"

"No, no, not at all." Koizumi said, the slightest chuckle edging on his voice. "You see, I'm fairly confident Suzumiya requites your feelings. In fact, I'd go do far as to stake my life on it. And it's not too hard to find evidence to support my claim. Indeed, there have been plenty of instances in which Suzumiya has displayed some form of romantic affection for you, and I'm certain you've noticed at least one or two of them yourself. Therefore, I'm sure she'd agree to go on a date with you were you to propose it to her, albeit begrudgingly so if only as a pretense."

I sighed, and lowered my head, my eyes trailing the cracks in the sidewalk as they passed under me. "It wouldn't matter one way or the other if I asked her, even if she does feel the same way about me. She hates me right now for some reason."

Koizumi cocked an eyebrow. "Oh? Why is that?"

I groaned. Man, I didn't want to talk about this right now, and especially not to Koizumi of all people. And his dumb proposition wasn't going to happen either. Why was I still walking alongside him again? "Well," my mouth seemed to move apart from my reluctant mind, "just before you showed up, Haruhi and I were walking together. We were just talking, until for some reason she was getting on me about Asahina, before she yelled at me and stormed off."

"About Asahina, you say?" Koizumi said inquisitively. "Well then you surely realize why Suzumiya was upset at you, right?"

My eye twitched irately. "No." I growled.

"Well, clearly she was jealous of Asahina. Today, as I said, you got fairly friendly with our young time traveller. Suzumiya noticed that, and likely got mad that you were clueless to that fact."

Clueless, huh? "Fine, then. Why do you care, anyways?"

Koizumi's pleasant grin returned. "Because now you know the cause of Suzumiya's current upset status. That means there is a simple way to fix it." Oh, yeah? "Merely call her, apologize for misunderstanding, and stare your feelings towards Asahina, those being platonic."

"And then ask her on a date?" I finished dryly.

"Yes," Koizumi responded simply. "I am quite confident she'll agree."

Was he, now? But seriously, how on earth could he possibly be confident in that? Sure, Haruhi had gone out with other guys before, but it was inconceivable that she'd ever agree to go on one with me. Even Taniguchi, the biggest loser in love I'd ever met thought it was something laughable. I couldn't ask Haruhi on a date. I just couldn't.

"And why not?" Asked Koizumi in response. "Even if she does reject you, an event I am strongly convinced will not occur, what harm could that even do to you?"

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, it'd only out my feelings to her, before getting them trampled on."

"But if she agreed, your feelings would be out in the open anyway." Koizumi explained nastily. "She'd know regardless, so what have you really got to lose?"

I turned my head to glare at Koizumi directly, a look of blatant suspicion painted all over my face. "Hey, why do you care so much that I ask Haruhi out on a date, anyway? Are you trying to match-make us or something?"

Koizumi refused to meet my accusatory stare, and instead opted to gaze dramatically ahead of us. "Well, as you know, Suzumiya's happiness is one of my main concerns, as well as a sworn duty of mine to uphold. If I see that she is feeling unhappy, I will do anything and everything in my power to help satisfy her again. And if I see something she wants that will make her happy and that I can feasibly give to her, I will not hesitate to give her it. In this case, she is likely wishing to be in a relationship with you. I think that a long-lasting, positive romantic relationship with someone is a good thing for her, and would make her happy. You reciprocate her feelings, so a relationship in which the two of you are dating is an entirely feasible future. As such, I am doing my best to encourage you to go after her." Koizumi explained, all the while retaining his overly pleasant smile.

"But in all honesty, Kyon," Koizumi added, turning to meet my gaze, "I'm also doing it because you're my friend."

I blinked, surprised at his moment of sincere sentiment. "I see."

"So, as your friend and as a fulfiller of Suzumiya's happiness, I urge you and encourage you to call her and ask her out on a date." Koizumi said cheerfully.

.

I returned home after Koizumi left my side, the contents of our previous conversation still fresh in my mind as I first ignored my sister and our cat to head to my room and then pick up my phone, my finger hovering over the call button, Haruhi's number already lunched in. Would she really agree? Koizumi seemed certain she would. Did she really feel the same way about me? Again, Mr. Perfect Smile seemed to believe so. But more importantly:

Was I really going to do this?

I took a deep breath.

Yep.

Tapping the call button, I put the phone up to my ear, and began going over what Koizumi had told me I should do. First, apologize to Haruhi. Second, state my feelings towards Asahina. Third, ask her out on a date.

Wait, what if she didn't pick up?

"Hello?" Came Haruhi's voice on the other end of the phone.

"Hey, Haruhi," I began, feeling my own awkwardness edging into my voice. "I, um...I'm sorry for calling after, you know...after our last...er...our last 'conversation'. But I had some things to say."

"Oh, no, it's fine, Kyon!" Haruhi replied hastily, almost Asahina-like in the way she quickly forgave me. "I-I was being irrational back there. You can blame me for that. Don't feel bad; I was just...saying things."

"Oh? Uh, okay," I responded. That was strange. It was rare for Haruhi to go back on something and forgive someone else. "Anyway, I was just saying that I think I know what you were talking about earlier, about Asahina."

"W-What?" Haruhi frantically stuttered. "Uh, uh, no you don't! Like I told you, I was just saying things! Got it?!" She yelled at me.

"Really?" I asked, surprised. "But...weren't you asking me about her because you wanted to know whether I liked Asahina or no—"

"NO!" Haruhi shouted, before gasping at how loud she'd gotten. "N-No. I don't care whether you like her or not; I don't care, I don't care, I don't care!"

I become progressively more and more confused and uncomfortable as Haruhi's voice grew in volume with each 'I don't care'. After it seemed she'd finished, I opted to continue before an awkward silence settled in. "Uh, okay. Well, I just wanted to say that I don't think of her that way. I mean, sometimes I ogle her, but that's only because you pick out such great outfits, but, uh, I don't think of her that way; emotionally, I mean; I just think she's really pretty, also now I'm rambling dammit!"

It was now my turn to cringe at myself while Haruhi paused uncomfortably at the end of my ramble. "A-Alright. Uh...t-thanks for telling me, I guess?"

"No problem," I managed, the burning sensation in my cheeks spreading across my entire face. "So, yeah. I'm sorry for not getting what you were asking earlier, and I don't like Asahina that way, and also do you want to go on a date with me?"

Dammit.

"W-What?" Haruhi choked out.

Crap. Crap. Why did I just say that so casually? Oh great, now my mouth was moving involuntarily again! "I-I mean, it doesn't have to be romantic, you know? Yeah, like, I mean, I was just wondering since it's supposed to be a really nice day out tomorrow and I was just thinking, 'Hey, wouldn't it be nice to go on a date with Haruhi?' so I asked you!" I spouted, cringing the entire time.

I waited for my inevitable rejection for a few agonizing seconds before...

"Sure," I could barely hear Haruhi's response.

What?

Had I heard that right? Haruhi wanted to go on a date...with me? "R-Really?" I said with incredulous glee, half of me doubting what I'd just heard.

"D-Don't make me repeat it again, alright?" Haruhi yelled, regaining some of her familiar demeanour.

"G-Great!" I exclaimed excitedly, the loud volume of my voice surprising myself. "So, where do you want to go, then?"

"You're the one who asked; you should've already planned this!" Haruhi snapped, halfway between her regular bossy attitude and her strange, unfamiliar flustered one that she for whatever reason seemed to be adopting. But then, if someone you'd known for over a year who you thought wasn't interested in you suddenly asked you out on a date, you'd probably be a bit flustered yourself.

That's right. There's no reason to suspect Haruhi likes me back just because she was getting flustered, I continued telling myself.

"Well, we could keep looking for aliens, if you wanted." I offered. "You seemed to be enjoying that a lot today. Maybe we could try searching together?"

"No!" Haruhi said hastily. "Uh, um...if we're going on a d-date, then we should do things, you know...that we want to do, right?"

Huh? "But Haruhi, I thought you liked searching for aliens."

"I-I do." Haruhi said quickly. "But I know you're not the biggest fan of the things I like to do with the SOS Brigade, so I thought we should do something you want to do...for once. Unless you want to go searching for aliens!"

Uh... "Er, no, not particularly. But maybe we could try doing some...uh...er...couple-y things, right? Like, um...going out for dinner, or m-maybe karaoke, or w-we could...see the fountains." Great. Why was I summarizing that all of a sudden? Was I really so unimaginative that I couldn't think up anything date-like to do and had to plagiarize Tsuruya?

I heard Haruhi snickered gleefully on the other end. "Heh heh...Kyon, you know that's just what Tsuruya and her boyfriend did on their date that one night, right?"

I rubbed the back of my neck nervously, feeling myself blush harder and harder. I could feel the sweat actively rolling down my back like an ice skater across a rink. I was just glad Haruhi couldn't see. "Yeah. Do you have any ideas, then? I'm not a very imaginative person; so I can't produce good date ideas."

"Oh, no," Haruhi replied. "But I guess my idea of a date is probably a bit different then the ordinary person's, huh, Kyon?"

I chuckled. "Yeah, maybe just a bit." I paused for a moment, thinking. "How about we try to mimic Tsuruya's date? Maybe we can get a good idea as to what the ordinary high schooler's date is like."

"Sure!" Haruhi agreed heartily. "Better than nothing!"

.

The next day I awoke after a solid five hours of sleep, the previous night's phone call with Haruhi taking major precedence in my mind for a good portion of the time I spent in my bed trying to sleep. As such, I dragged myself out of bed in the morning, sleepy as...well, I would think of a good analogy later when I wasn't so tired...and went to the bathroom to ready myself for my date with Haruhi.

My date with Haruhi?!

That's right! I'd completely forgotten! Oh, crap! We'd arranged to meet up at the station at eleven; what time was it? I glanced at the clock on the wall. Ten?! That barely left me enough time to get ready and then make my way over there!

Suffice it to say, the entirety of the period of time between ten and eleven that morning was spent panicking and hastily picking out a nice outfit, making sure I smelled alright, thinking out what Haruhi and I were going to do, and then lastly making my way down to the station to meet up with Haruhi a bit earlier than planned, so as to not make her wait.

Dammit, was I really doing all of this for Haruhi? Had I really become so smitten with her that my heart raced every time I thought about how she'd actually agreed to go on a date with me? I mean, how come that was even happening, anyway? What would Taniguchi say if he saw us on a date, just the two of us? Knowing my luck, the possibility of that happening was very real.

Standing there at the station fifteen minutes early, realizing that my own nervousness was fighting off my intense desire for sleep, I casually waited for Haruhi to arrive. I decided to look at my outfit one more time. Would she like it? I thought it was nice-looking when I'd put it on, but would Haruhi think so? Her opinions had always been a bit off from the ordinary person's, though, so it was anyone's guess. Maybe she would have preferred it if I'd came wearing the frog costume from the endless summer.

"Kyon!" Haruhi's cheerful voice filled my right ear, taking all of my attention. My head swivelled towards the direction of her voice, and I was instantly doused with pure euphoria as I got to experience the prettiest incarnation of Haruhi wearing casual clothes that I'd ever seen. Was this heaven? I don't think anything Asahina had ever worn could compare to this, strange though it was to say.

As she ran up to me, I couldn't help but notice her eyes scanning up and down my body quickly, an intense blush covering her cheeks. "Uh...h-hey, Kyon!"

I tried not to stare at Haruhi's body for any longer than I already had, and met her eyes. "Hey, Haruhi. You ready?"

She nodded exuberantly. "You'd better show me a good time, though, mister! I won't be happy if this date turns out to be a bust!"

I chuckled. "I wouldn't think of it, m'lady. Now, shall we head to the diner?" I said, jokingly putting on an excessively formal tone.

Heading out in the direction of a diner I'd picked out earlier (one that was a whole lot less expensive than the high-class restaurant Tsuruya and her boyfriend had gone to), Haruhi and I found ourselves making small talk a lot quicker and easier than I would have expected. After our very awkward phone call the night prior, I would have expected a sort of barrier to be between us, and yet it seemed to be the opposite; Haruhi and I were talking more normally than I think we'd ever. And the topics never went towards anything out of bounds for me, such as Haruhi's obsession for aliens, a subject I wouldn't be able to join in on, resulting in a surprisingly pleasant chat about ordinary things related to school, friends, and family, to name a few. I was kind of surprised how quickly our talking made the time between leaving the station and reaching the restaurant seem once we arrived.

"Here we are!" I declared, staring at the joint. I'd picked it because, as previously mentioned, it would go soft on my wallet. I knew, though, that I'd be spending a but more money than usual, though, and chose it that way on purpose; to show Haruhi I cared, I would spend a bit more money on her than I usually did.

Entering, we were sat at a table, and handed our menus. After ordering, the waitress left us to ourselves, and I began to scan around. Hmm...I'd never actually been to the restaurant before, but looking at the inside, I was wondering if Haruhi was unsatisfied with a restaurant cheaper than the one Tsuruya and her boyfriend had gone to. It was, after all, part if the date that Haruhi and I were attempting to mimic.

As such, I decided to sneak a quick glance at Haruhi, who was tapping the table with her hands, her own eyes travelling about the place, a vague look of happiness on her face. She looked so utterly content, sitting there. That lovely expression; I could just stare at it for hours...

"Uh...Kyon?" Haruhi said uncertainly, waving a hand in front of my face as her face reddened under my gaze. "Do you mind...not staring at me? It's kind of weird when you do that."

I blinked. Had I been staring? "Ah, um, I-I'm sorry, I was just..." Man, this seemed to happen a lot to me. Haruhi's face just held a certain quality to it...I couldn't help but not get lost in her beautiful, curious eyes flitting about, the faint smile on her soft-looking lips, and the way her hair fell so nicely on her face. It seemed she was the epitome of beautiful sitting before me. How had I not seen her this way before?

Haruhi giggled as my voice trailed off. "It's fine, Kyon. I understand. Sometimes, I find myself staring at you, t—!" She quickly clamped a hand over her mouth, her entire face a vibrant red, and began looking around, doing her vest to avoid my eyes. "Uh...um...I mean...oh, nevermind! J-Just ignore what I just said, o-okay?" She stuttered, glaring at me in typical Haruhi fashion despite the massive blush across her cheeks.

I couldn't help but chuckle at that. "Heh, heh...alright, Haruhi. You want to talk about something else?" I offered, both to help her out of her situation and to calm my rapidly-beating heart.

Had Haruhi really just said what I think she'd just said? That she sometimes stared at me, too? What did that mean? Was it like the way I seemed to stare at her nowadays, or did she mean out of boredom, like she stared at the back of my head in class when the lessons got dull? Surely the second one, right? But then...her reaction...how could it not be the first one?

No, no, no. Now was not the time to get my mind discombobulated because of a misread or a misunderstanding. I was on a date with Haruhi. I had to be the gentleman my mother always said I should be on a date.

And thus, Haruhi and I continued chatting casually until our food came, interrupting us. As we began eating, I found my eyes involuntarily flitting up to Haruhi, just for the sake of looking at her. Occasionally, our eyes would meet, and both of our faces would burn as we stared into one another's eyes for a second. Then, we'd silently agree to pretend nothing happened and would go on eating.

What was happening? We're my eyes tricking me, or was Haruhi displaying some of the same behaviour I was? But how could that be? This was Haruhi, after all. She was famous for dumping guys quickly! And there was no question that I would be the last person on her list of guys she'd want to go out with, right? I mean, even Taniguchi made fun of me for that fact alone. Surely, it was impossible Haruhi would fall in love with me, right?

Right?

"To the karaoke place!" Haruhi proclaimed, her sharp cry slicing through my chain of thought and bringing me back to reality. Without waiting for a response from me, or even a confirmation that I was following her, Haruhi then bolted off in the direction of the karaoke place that Tsuruya and her boyfriend had been to.

I felt alright choosing the same place as their date, considering Haruhi and I never actually went inside it during our espionage. Really, all I cared about was whether Haruhi was enjoying it or not. I stole a glance at her overjoyed and appropriately Haruhi-like look of glee and mischief. Looked like she was having the great time I was hoping for, I thought with a smile.

Entering, we sat down at a table, and Haruhi immediately went for the song list, marvelling at all of the options.

"Wow, this is way more songs than any other karaoke place I've been to!" Haruhi exclaimed excitedly. She looked over her shoulder at me, shooting me a mischievous grin. "So, Kyon, what song do you want to sing?"

Huh? "W-Well, I don't sing, Haruhi. You know that!" I chuckled nervously, rubbing my neck as I tried to ignore her devious smirk.

Did she really want me to sing? I could feel my heart pounding out of my chest and my face heat up at the very thought of having to attempt it in front of Haruhi. Uh, uh! There was no way! I was not going to sing for her, no matter how much she pressured me, I told her.

Haruhi glared at me, unsatisfied. "Oh, come on, Kyon," she said slowly, inching up closer to me on the booth, her expression pleading, "not even for me?" I had become acutely aware of how close she now was to me, essentially leaning against my side. Holy crap, were those her breasts on my arm?!

Dammit. Was she doing this on purpose? Did she know about my feelings towards her? "U-Uh, uh, uh," I stuttered, my mind and my mouth briefly becoming disconnected. I turned away, both to hide the red plastered all over my face and to avoid faltering underneath her gorgeous eyes. "W-W-Why don't you do that song you performed at the school festival?" I asked, the one instance where Haruhi had amazed me with her singing ability suddenly popping into my head.

Suddenly, Haruhi pulled away from me, her body no longer warming my formerly grateful arm. I couldn't help but turn to see Haruhi blushing about as much as I was.

"T-That one?" She stuttered. "But, K-Kyon, you know that that one isn't on the list, right? I mean, it's not like that small band's song is actually on there."

I could feel my heart pounding in my chest as I responded. "Well, just sing something as amazingly as you did during that performance, then."

"As amazingly as I—?" Haruhi repeated, surprised. She immediately reddened like a ripening cherry, but quickly put on her typical Haruhi response. "W-Well, of course it'll be amazing! Just watch and learn, my young Kyon!"

Selecting a song with her eyes closed and while spinning in a circle, Haruhi took the microphone and held it up to her mouth in a manner that seemed to suggest that she knew all of the words to whatever arbitrary song she'd just haphazardly chosen, something I would have absolutely no trouble believing was actually the case whatsoever.

Then, the music began playing, the style of the song very similar to the style the one Haruhi had sang at the festival was in, and I began to recall memories of that performance. It had truly been a spectacular show, and it was more than proof that Haruhi's singing ability was top notch. Just what was she about to treat my ears now, I wondered to myself as I sat back in my seat, catching a smile on my lips from Haruhi's contagious grin of glee.

Then, the lyrics hit the screen, but Haruhi's eyes were closed. She had no need for such things as on-screen lyrics. The words, the melody, the _music_ that seemed to flow from Haruhi's mouth like a calming stream; it was breath-taking, and in that instant, I could have sworn Haruhi appeared to be angelic in form, in beauty, and most especially, in song. It was like she was picking me up and carrying me to heaven on the wings of her melody, each beautiful word and phrase connecting to each other in the simplest of ways, and yet still in such a complex fashion I was certain no singing instructor would be able to deconstruct it. I had heard the most astounding performances of the human voice before, but what I heard in that booth went beyond the simple boundaries of 'human'. It wasn't so much within a realm so impressive that it could be called 'godly', but just like I would describe Haruhi herself when in comparison to other people, it was simply...

Haruhi.

It was sung in only the way Haruhi could sing it. Both astoundingly complex and alarmingly simple. Both infinitely impressive and wonderfully ordinary. Both breathtakingly beautiful and perfectly imperfect. And yet it was exactly the way I expected it to be, and still defied every expectation I had. It was contradictory. Paradoxical. Indeed, if 'Haruhi' were an adjective, it would be that.

And it was such that, by the time the song had ended, I couldn't even tell you what she'd sung, only that it caused me to momentarily forget to breath as I sat quite literally on the edge of my seat, gazing up at Haruhi's magnificent smile while she panted exhaustedly, returning my ecstatic smile.

"So," she said, pausing to take a breath in, "how'd I do?"

Although a mix of various things I wanted to say whizzed around in my head chaotically, in that moment I found it incredibly difficult to speak, as though my tongue had been frozen by anaesthesia and my lower jaw had become temporarily paralyzed.

Haruhi frowned at me, her clear irritation mixing with some slight concern. "Are you seriously not going to say anything? I just sang my heart out! The least you could do would be to tell me what you thought!"

"You'd probably get mad at me if I said anything other than praise, though," I said, surprising myself that my mouth finally started working only to make a snarky remark.

"Maybe, but you could at least tell me!" Haruhi pouted.

I chuckled. "Okay, okay. It was beautiful, Haruhi." I said with all the sincerity and emotion I felt possible to inject into such a short sentence.

Haruhi's face reddened even further at my comment, to the point where I was worried she had a fever or something. "W-Well, of course it was. You didn't have to say that." She said, turning her head and evading my gaze.

Um...I hoped she realized the contradiction between that sentence and her previous one.

"Well, yeah, I just meant, say something, you know, _other_ than that. Cause everyone told me that after the festival. I was hoping for something a bit more...unique." She said, huffing a sigh. Heh, such were the desires of the ever-demanding Haruhi. I opened my mouth to add on to my initial thought, before I was cut off. "B-But don't say anything else!" Haruhi cried out, waving her hands in front of her. "Just hearing that you liked it is enough for me...I mean—" She began stuttering excuses hastily while I attempted to ignore her latest slip up.

After that, Haruhi managed to convince me to sing a few more songs myself, and even do a few duets together, my mediocre voice being outdone by Haruhi's every time. Once we'd finished, we left the karaoke place, and headed out into the crowded street. I checked my watch. It was 1:00 already? It had felt like we'd only spent half an hour on our date! Wow...time did indeed fly when you were having fun. I just hoped that time was soaring for Haruhi.

We walked along the busy sidewalk, side by side, while my brain tried to come up with an activity to do next. If we were going to directly copy Tsuruya and her boyfriend's date, we'd go see the fountains next, but as it was, it was still the middle of the day, and I was pretty sure there wasn't going to be a fountain show tonight anyway. And besides, I _did_ want to try and treat Haruhi to something new. Something different. Something that was my own idea, at least.

But I was stumped. Not a single idea for an activity or a place I thought Haruhi might like came to mind, leaving me panicking as we reached the end of the sidewalk. Was Haruhi expecting me to think of something? Was she racking her brain as well? Was our date crashing to a halt suddenly because we had nothing to do?

"Hey, Kyon!" Haruhi's authoritative voice shot through my panic, bringing me back to reality. She was looking at me somewhat longingly.

"W-What?" I asked.

"Let's go to the park next." She said, as though ordering me like she were my superior, pointing slightly to our right. I followed her index finger, until my eyes came to rest upon a peaceful-looking park, semi-full with children playing excitedly and a few parents watching them while sitting on the various benches that lined the perimeter of the park.

I looked back to Haruhi. "Really? You want to go there?"

She glared at me. "Yeah? So?"

I chuckled. "No, no, there's no problem. It just seemed so out of the blue, a girl like you wanting to do something as innocent and simple as go to a park. Kinda cute, reall—!" I cut myself off quickly. Dammit! Was I making these mistakes now, too? I felt my face heat up like a stove top as I attempted to avoid making eye contact with Haruhi. If we locked eyes, I knew it would make everything a thousand times worse for me.

Haruhi merely giggled. "Great. Then let's go!" She cried, grabbing sudden hold of my wrist and yanking me across the street, not making a single attempt to watch out for cars as she headed single-mindedly towards the park on the other side of the pavement. It would have been endearing for me to see her being herself as she was in that moment, if it weren't for the fact that I was actively trying to avoid being turned into a corpse by the hands of any of the unfortunate drivers we were cutting past.

After narrowly avoiding death or serious injury, we arrived at the park, and Haruhi immediately let go of my wrist to dash over to the playground equipment in the middle, climbing and jumping all over it as though she were seven years younger and the children around her were merely peers in her second grade class having fun. I chuckled at the mixed reactions of both the adults sitting on the various benches around the playground equipment and the children already playing on it, as well as Haruhi's own goofy and energetic charisma. She was truly a sight to behold. A girl unlike any other I'd known. Hell, a _person_ unlike any I'd ever known. Someone who didn't care what people thought of her when she, a high schooler, began leaping and playing around on a playground like she was seven.

Such was the nature of being Haruhi Suzumiya.

After enjoying the view of Haruhi's pure silliness be shared with the children playing alongside her for a minute or so, I decided to take a quick break, and leisurely strolled over to the nearest unoccupied bench, plopping down with a grunt of relief. After two hours of pure, unadulterated Haruhi, your body and mind always needed a rest. Right now, all I could really do would be to relax on the bench, thereby resting my body, given that Haruhi would definitely scold me for falling asleep during our date in order to rest my mind. Therefore, I casually sat back in the bench, and watched Haruhi play from a different angle.

Eventually, Haruhi, after screaming excitedly with all the child-like wonder and glee of the kids around her as she shot down a slide, ran over to me with an irate and unsatisfied look on her face. Uh, oh. What did she want now?

"Kyon!" Haruhi called irately, her voice and volume reflecting the expression on her face perfectly. "What are you doing, just lazily sitting around like that? Come on, play on the playground with me!" She ordered, sounding more like an angry boss shouting commands at her employee than a girl asking a guy to do something with her.

"No, thanks," I replied firmly. "I'm not going out on that thing. You might be able to handle the stares of all of those parents, but not me. Maybe some other time."

Haruhi frowned, annoyed. "With an attitude like that, you're never going to get to the level of stamina I have! How do you think you'll get to beating my record for fastest ten meter dash at North High?"

First of all, from what I'd seen, I was pretty sure it was impossible to beat her time without dedicating years of time towards that specific goal. Secondly, I was perfectly fine with the stamina level I had now. Despite all I'd been through, not once had high stamina levels been something I'd truly wished for.

"Fine," Haruhi conceded reluctantly, forcefully moving me over to sit beside me on the bench, "but don't be surprised if you're the first to die when the zombie apocalypse happens!" She warned me with a superior tone of voice, as though that actually had a chance of happening.

I couldn't help but chuckle at the accumulation of the events leading up to now: our dinner together, the wonderful karaoke session which my ears rejoiced at, Haruhi being so very much like herself in bolting, caution be damned, across the street only to play innocently on the playground across from it, and lastly, her teasing me about the zombie apocalypse, of all things.

What a date it had been. A normal one, by all outside accounts, at least if you were just casually observing us, and hadn't also seen the part where Haruhi climbed up a ladder and slid down the slide only to repeat that cycle six times over. But if you'd been listening, I'm sure you would have done a double take. After all, double takes were the norm when it came to Haruhi. She tended to cause people around her to do that just by being herself. I'd known her for two years, now, and I still did them.

I'm sure if Koizumi looked at our date, and by all means he very well might have, he would have said to himself, "There. Suzumiya is happy yet again. All in a day's work for an esper," as though he were obeying the commands of a god in order to appease them. That was indeed the mindset he held, after all. Haruhi was God to him. To Asahina, she was an anomaly in time. To Nagato, a source of data. These were all the mindsets of those around Haruhi back when the SOS Brigade had first been formed.

But now? Now...now things are different. That's what I believe, anyway. I know they used to just see Haruhi as one thing or another, but things change, including perspectives, with time. What was Haruhi Suzumiya to them now? A chief. A classmate. A friend. I knew those were all the things I saw Haruhi as. I don't think it would be too far of a stretch to say they thought that way as well. That was just the way we were now.

What had Koizumi asked me about Haruhi? What I thought of her? I loved her, of course. First as a friend, and then romantically, as cliché as it may sound.

An imaginary Koizumi popped into my mind, his typical pleasant smile greeting me. "In that case, what is it that you wish to say to her?" He asked.

What did I want to say to her?

Well, that was obvious.

"I love you, Haruhi," I said aloud as Haruhi sat next to me, drinking a bottle of water.

Wait.

Wait.

Fuck.

I think I made a horrible mistake.

 **There you have it, one and all! Chapter five, finished. I hope you guys all really liked it! I put a lot of effort into this one, and as you can see, I wanted to push for the end game with this chapter. Obviously this won't be it, and I'll be sure to get the next one out soon, just don't be surprised if that one ends up being the last chapter in this fanfiction.**

 **Until next time!**


	6. Chapter 6: Finally Holding Hands

So, let me clarify to those who are currently unclear. No, I did not mean to utter that sentence aloud. Yes, I just spoke my response to an imaginary Koizumi's question. And yes, I am a complete dumbass.

Also, I want to implode right now.

"Y-Y-Y-Y-Yo ?" Haruhi squeaked, her voiced several octaves higher than it normally was, constricted as though she were choking. To be honest, the way she sounded was the perfect audial representation of what I felt like at that moment of complete agony.

While I died ten thousand times over inside, Haruhi seemed to be burning alive beside me, her face redder and hotter than your average red giant star. The blush on her face appeared to be so extensive that it ran all the way down her arms. Meanwhile, her expression was a strange mix; one I'd never seen before in Haruhi. Embarrassment, shock, disbelief, contentment, fear, and many smaller increments of other various emotions combined to form an odd look painted onto Haruhi's face. It was hard to believe she was even capable of making a face like that. But then, I'm sure my expression wasn't too different.

"K-K-K-K-Kyon?!" Haruhi stuttered like a jackhammer, her voice becoming a cry in vast and sudden contrast to her original squeak.

She wanted a follow up; that was clear as day. But how the hell was I supposed to follow that up?! I don't think I could say the word 'hello' right now, even if you told me I'd win the lottery if I did it! After letting such an idiotic mistake slip past my lips, it was like my brain and my mouth had been detached.

"Uuuuuuuuh..." a dull groan escaped my lips as a stared at Haruhi like a dying fish. Hey, at least that was something.

"D-D-Did you say you—l...l-l-l-l-l...lo...loved...m-me?" Haruhi stammered out her question, her voice rising progressively in pitch the further she talked.

Oh, crap. Now I was supposed to answer that question? Ignoring the fact that my mouth was as slack as a sack of sand, I was now facing the massive predicament of answering Haruhi's latest mind-boggling question. Now, if this were some rom-com manga or something, you can bet that I'd instantly be denying having even said a word. And, I mean, it was the easiest way out. Haruhi might believe my denial, and we could go on as always, chief and minion.

But how could I? Hadn't I told Koizumi, both real and imaginary, that I loved Haruhi? Didn't I believe that sentence? Did I not want Haruhi herself to know it? Of course I did. And as much as every fibre of my being wanted to deny it and run away, I knew that it was time for me to be a man. Or at least put the bravery I'd gathered from so many other adventures to use: by answering Haruhi's question.

Miraculously finding control over my mouth, I took a deep breath in, forcing myself to look Haruhi straight in the eye, who seemed to be wrestling with herself on whether to return my gaze or look away out of embarrassment.

"Yes." I said in the firmest voice I could manage, which in all honesty was still very shaky.

"Whhaa...?" Haruhi breathed, absolutely dumbfounded.

I inhaled deeply again, preparing myself, and then launched into my speech. "Haruhi, I love you. I love you from the bottom of my heart. I love you so much that for some reason, I sometimes imagine you with some guy, and then I want to punch his lights out! I love you so much that sometimes I get lost in your eyes, or looking at your lips, just because they're so unbelievably mesmerizing! I love you so much that the thought of spending another day without you is agony! I love you so, so, so, so much!" I yelled, finding myself panting after I'd finished.

I can't believe I just said that.

What was Haruhi even thinking right now? Was she flattered? Horrified? Did she feel the same? Was she seconds away from rejecting me? It took a surprising amount of effort even to bring myself to meet her eyes; I don't think I could handle knowing.

If I thought the notion of Haruhi's face getting even redder was laughable, I'd have been proven wrong as I stared into the tomato that was Haruhi's face. Her expression was still the strange mix of aforementioned emotions, but this time she seemed a bit more elated than earlier. What? Could that really be the case? Was I reading her expression wrong? And was that her heartbeat I was hearing? In all honesty, it was probably mine pounding in my eardrums.

"..."

"...you love me?" Came the softest question I'd ever heard from Haruhi's voice. Had she ever spoken that softly? Maybe she was choking on her words too much.

"Uh...y-yeah," I stuttered. Oh crap, what was she going to say?

"Kyon, I need you to pinch me. I think I'm dreaming." Haruhi suddenly said, not a single droplet of humour in her voice as she stared me dead in the eye.

"W-What?" I sputtered, confused. "Why would I do that?" Surely she didn't actually think she was dreaming, right?

"T-This has got to be a dream!" Haruhi said, her shifting tone suggesting she was saying this more to convince herself than for my benefit. "Yeah, that's it! I'm dreaming! T-There's no way Kyon just t-told me h-he l-l-loved me!" She returned her attention to my incredulous self. "Pinch me!"

"What?" I cried, staring at her in disbelief. Who on earth would actually mistake the real world for a dream? That only happened in books and movies. No one actually did that. Unless Haruhi was just that eccentric. "No, no, you're not in a dream. I'm pretty sure you'd be able to know if you were. Listen, what I just told you is real! It's the truth! Haruhi, I love you!"

"B-B-But that can't be!" Haruhi stammered. "There's no way Kyon would fall in love with me! We...we aren't like that."

What, now she was referring to me in third person despite me sitting right beside me? Also, was I being rejected? She was making it sound like such an outcome as me falling in love with her was undesirable. Was I really that bad?

I sighed in slight irritation. Was I really going to have to prove to Haruhi that this was reality? But I didn't want to pinch her.

"Ugh...fine, how about this, then. Does this feel real?" I said, working up my confidence as I spoke. Taking in a deep breath, I extended my arms out suddenly and swiftly wrapped them around Haruhi's body, successfully stopping her from sputtering and instead starting a high-pitched, choked, barely audible squeal emanating from her mouth.

Oh crap; why did I do this?

But I could feel her heart beat like this. Oh man, it was beating so fast! And her body felt so warm. Well, recalling when I'd embraced her earlier, I guess I already knew her body was warm, but it felt extra warm now. I guess this situation in general wasn't helping.

Wait a second.

Was that a sigh of pleasure I just heard?! Were my ears just misleading me? Tell me Haruhi didn't just sigh blissfully over my shoulder while I embraced her tightly.

Suddenly, Haruhi pushed me away, a brief cry escaping her lips. I reluctantly let her go, still wanting to feel her warmth. "B-B-But...how? Why?" I could tell just by looking into her eyes that a million other questions were whizzing around in her head, waiting to be asked, but that all she could manage right now we're the two big ones.

"I'm not sure, myself." I began, rubbing my neck, and avoiding her gaze. "It was all normal at first. You were the chief, and I was just the underling. But I think you'd agree with me if I said we eventually became friends, albeit those of a strange variety. Eventually, though...I don't know...I guess somehow, some way...I just realized how beautiful you were, and how much I cared for you. I guess those feelings turned into love." I rubbed my temples in frustration. Dammit...why was it so tough to explain? Was that just the way it worked when it came to romantic feelings? Was it simply such that you couldn't express yourself properly? At least I was doing the best I could. I hoped Haruhi could understand me fully.

A look of dawning realization then took form on Haruhi's face, and her eyes dropped off of me along with her focus. "You...you love me." She breathed with a tone of finality. Had she finally gotten it? Haruhi looked back up at me, her expression intensifying. "You love me!" She exclaimed, almost in disbelief.

Why was she repeating that sentence all of a sudden? She was going to make me die of some heart-related problem if she kept making it beat so fast like this! "Er...yeah, I do."

"Holy crap..." Haruhi ran a hand through her hair, once again turning away from my eyes.

I gulped. Was this good? Was it bad? Was this disbelief positive or negative? I'm not sure I want to know, in all honesty. After all, the phrase 'ignorance is bliss' doesn't exist for no reason. But then, I knew I couldn't go on like this with Haruhi until the end of our days. Knowing would end my worries. And there was only one way of knowing.

"So, uh, Haruhi," I started, causing myself to internally slap my forehead at the casual tone of my voice preceding a question so heavy, "will you go out with me?"

Haruhi immediately returned to her earlier mixed expression, as though she was re-experiencing disbelief, shock, and elation. Did this question really weird such a power over Haruhi? I mean, she'd been asked it before, right?

Wait a minute. She'd been asked it before! Taniguchi, providing me one if the first pieces of knowledge I ended up receiving on the subject of Haruhi Suzumiya, had famously told me of her many failed dates and dumped boyfriends. I'd even heard confirmation on the validity of the rumour from Haruhi herself! In that case, the question 'will you go out with me' had surely been asked many a time. She would be so familiar with it that just any old guy asking her wouldn't faze her a bit. Did...did that mean that since she was being so affected by my asking the question, she was actually in love with me?

No way. Impossible! It...it must have been simply because she was jarred by the fact that just ten minutes earlier we were still eccentric friends. Yeah, that must have been it.

"G-G-G-Go out with you?!" Haruhi repeated in surprise, pointing a weak finger at me. "B-B-B...But...you're Kyon!"

Huh?

"Uh, I'm Kyon, yeah. What does that have to do with anything? What difference does that make?" I asked confusedly.

"It makes _all_ the difference, actually!" Haruhi yelled. She lowered her head, the aura of intensity around her suddenly leaving, replaced by a sense of tenderness. Haruhi opened her mouth to speak as I sat there, dumbfounded. What was she going to say? "You're Kyon. I'm Haruhi. We're by each other's side until the end. We're partners! We're not...boyfriend and girlfriend! We never were! I mean...I'd always boss you around...and you'd always do it, even despite your complaints. That's the way we were. Are! How...how could we possibly go out together? It wouldn't be us! It wouldn't..." Haruhi trailed off, her words turning into stifled sobs and sniffles.

Crap, was she crying? "Ah, um...don't cry, Haruhi!" I said desperately.

"I-I'm not crying!" Haruhi exclaimed suddenly, lifting her head swiftly and locking eyes with me. Her expression was indignant; so very Haruhi. For a second, it was like we'd departed from our heavy conversation.

I looked to the side in melancholy, avoiding Haruhi's eyes as I processed she'd said. "Does that mean you rejected me?" I said softly, the thought of that possibility hitting me surprisingly hard. Man, I thought I'd prepared myself for a potential rejection, but now that that possibility was so close to becoming reality, it seemed like any preparation I'd made was just a farce.

"No!" Haruhi said loudly and hastily. "Ah, um, that is...er..."

A swelling hope filled my heart to the brim. Feeling it pounding as I gasped, I asked excitedly, "D-Does that mean you _will_ go out with me?!"

Haruhi was blushing more intensely than ever, as she leaned away from me, her eyes darting about in search of something else to focus on. "Well...um...gah!" She cried, throwing her hands out in front of her. "Wait, wait, wait! Isn't this all wrong?! Don't I have to say I l-love you too before we start going out?! That's how it works, isn't it?!"

I blinked. "What? But you've gone out with plenty of guys before! Don't tell me you confessed your love to all of them before going out!"

"Those were exceptions!" Haruhi retorted. "Those guys were all boring and uninteresting! But you're much, _much_ better than any of those guys!" She yelled loudly.

I felt the heat in my cheeks spread to other parts of my face as I struggled to believe what my ears were picking up. Did she really just say what I think she did? "H-Haruhi...d-do you...?"

Haruhi's blush began to rival the likes of mine as she hunched over, her curtain of hair doing a good job if hiding her expression but a poor job of hiding the heated red on her cheeks. I felt certain that I could hear heartbeat beyond my own as tension sat palpably between us. What was she going to say next? I was anxious to know the answer.

"I...I-I...I lo...l-l-lo...dammit!" Haruhi cried out suddenly after eons of stumbling over her words. She pulled at her hair in frustration as she made various angry noises, fidgeting about uncomfortably. "Argh! Why is this so hard?!"

After staring at her struggles for the longest time, my pounding heart suddenly reminded me that oxygen was a thing I needed in order to live, and I quickly breathed again. "H-Haruhi..." I said. Whether it was a prompt or a mere word meant to convey comfort and support to her I wasn't sure, but I knew saying it was what she needed right now.

Haruhi perked up at my mentioning of her name, and she peered up at me from behind her curtain of hair, her beauty inexplicably more radiant than ever. I could stare at it for hours.

Clenching her fists, Haruhi's formerly uncertain look was instantly replaced with stark determination, tinted of course by the inherent Haruhi-ness that came with her making a facial expression. Some of her composure regained, she took a deep breath inwards, all of the tension within her and between us prepared to release. I again forgot to breath as my pulse filled my ears, staring all the while at Haruhi with both a look of awe and one of anticipation. I wasn't sure I could handle what I thought she was going to say.

"Kyon, I love you too!" Haruhi at last said, her voice loud and abrasive as per the norm, yet still packed to overflowing with every feeling within her. I could feel my heart being caught in my throat as I stared, wide-eyed and unbelieving, at Haruhi, who was miraculously maintaining eye contact with me as our emotions finally connected.

It was as though a veil had been lifted, and suddenly, our hearts were as one, and staring into Haruhi's eyes at that moment, I knew that this was what both of us had been longing for since too long ago. All the tension was instantly released, and as though by some magnetic force, Haruhi and I moved towards each other with such longing filling our hearts. The only thing either of us wanted was to be closer to one another.

At last, our bodies met, and I wrapped my arms around Haruhi, and she wrapped hers around me, and we both clung to each other desperately, as though being with each other was something we needed. It felt incredible just to have her return my affections, and now we were hugging. Was this the best day of my life, or what?

Pulling away from each other simultaneously, Haruhi and I parted just enough to continue holding one another at a close distance, but not so close that we were still in the realm of hugging. We stared into each other's eyes, the vibrant passion within them so strong that without either of us realizing it, we were once again coming closer together.

Her face...it was so close to mine...and even though my heart was indeed going a million beats a minute, I still knew that this was something I was so comfortable with doing it wouldn't be something I'd get stuck on.

Then, as our faces got closer and closer together, finally our lips met in the middle, and in that instant, no care in the world, no problem of mankind could ever dampen the moment. It was like all evil had been purified, and it was just Haruhi and I, kissing. The most perfect moment, and we got to share it, just the two of us. Was there anything left for me to experience in this world? I felt pretty satisfied right there.

Her lips were so soft against mine...I hadn't been in love with Haruhi long enough to begin fantasizing about how they'd feel, but I could feel it then and there that anything I'd have imagined could never have lived up to the real thing. I suppose I had kissed her once before, but that felt like a forgotten dream compared to this.

Then, after what felt like both an eternity and an instant, we pulled away, and I stared lovingly into Haruhi's eyes, receiving the same look from her. I knew we were both thinking the same thing: I never want this to end.

"So...does this mean we're dating now?" I said sheepishly, avoiding her eyes despite the fact that they were only inches from mine.

"Of course, dummy," Haruhi responded, the use of an insult strangely tender as she said it. I imagine, though, that anything Haruhi said in that moment would have sounded like the most tender thing in the world.

"Oh, man...what does that mean for us?" I wondered, accidentally voicing my thoughts aloud. It was sort of strange, Haruhi and I dating. Almost like a breaking of a barrier we never thought to even try to break, and yet we knew it was the best thing to do. How would everyone react to this? Koizumi would likely be unsurprised, especially given what he'd said to me earlier...Nagato would give us an almost imperceptible nod of approval, I bet...and Asahina would probably give us a flustered congratulations. Taniguchi would tease me to no end, undoubtedly, while Kunikida would voice his thoughts and opinions on the news in a very calm and concise manner...and I bet Tsuruya would have a good laugh about it, but ultimately would be happy for us.

"That's what I was trying to tell you, Kyon!" Haruhi exclaimed, breaking through my thoughts. "It's weird...I kind of feel like we shouldn't fall in love...like that was never meant to be...but this feels right. I know it in my heart...this is what we should be doing; I just know it! It's going to be a bit bizarre...but we'll get through it together, right?"

I smiled sincerely at her. "Of course."

.

I don't know why it surprised me to the degree that it did, but that night, after I'd given Haruhi a hug and said goodbye to her at the station before returning home to spend the rest of the day playing video games and eventually hit the sack, I had an immensely hard time falling asleep. The memory of Haruhi and I kissing was filling every crevasse of my brain, and every time I replayed it, my heart went pounding and my cheeks were set ablaze. You'd think I would have predicted that happening, but funnily enough, not once on my way home did I think the events of the day would affect me so much. I guess the feeling that the point Haruhi and I were at right now was so very right was so deeply ingrained within me.

Anyway, as such, I only and finally managed to go to sleep at about three in the morning, after scarfing down what remained of Haruhi's chocolates, and therefore was incredibly tired as I made the daily trek up the hill to North High. It felt like last Monday all over again, what with me keeping myself up all night thinking about Haruhi and then paying for it the day after. To top it all off, it did indeed happen to be Monday, just like before. At least Taniguchi wasn't running up behind me only to annoy me while I was trying not to fall asleep.

"Yo, Kyon!"

I stand corrected.

Taniguchi's loathsome face appeared beside me as he slapped my shoulder, a big grin on his face. Really, why did he never just let me make it through my personal hell? He always came in at the worst time. "Hey, you're not looking so good. What happened last night?" Well, at least he noticed.

"I, uh...I went on a date?" I said, uncertainly ending the sentence with a question mark. Did I really want the first person to receive the news to be Taniguchi? I wasn't so sure.

"Really?" Taniguchi said, his tone suggesting disbelief. "You? On a date? I don't buy it. C'mon, tell me what you were _really_ doing!"

"Wh—I _was_ on a date!" I said, somewhat offended that Taniguchi wouldn't believe me. I mean, it wasn't like I was that undesirable, right? Or maybe it was because I really hadn't ever gone on a date with a girl during the time I'd known Taniguchi.

"Sure, sure," he said sarcastically. "In that case, who was the girl?"

I froze up suddenly. Did I want to tell him? I guess he'd find out eventually...whether through me or some other unreliable source. "H-Haruhi." I stammered, avoiding his gaze.

"Suzumiya?!" Taniguchi exclaimed incredulously. As expected, he then began guffawing like an idiot, his hand on my shoulder the only thing supporting him during his laughing fit. I grumbled something rude under my breath, glaring at him, before he finally calmed down, wiping a tear from his eye as he did. "Haruhi Suzumiya? _The_ Haruhi Suzumiya? Yeah, right! Good one, Kyon! Seriously, though, if you didn't actually have a date, you could have just told me. I'm not going to ridicule you for that."

"Oh, look, I think I see the school up ahead I'm gonna head in there quickly see you!" I slurred my sentences together as I jogged away from Taniguchi into the respite of the school. Man, it really was feeling like Monday last week all over again.

As soon as I headed down the hallway towards my classroom, though, my heart began pounding at the thought of seeing Haruhi again. We were dating now. How were we supposed to act? Were we supposed to behave differently? Did we have to tell everyone right away? And what was Haruhi thinking? Was she stressing about this, too?

As questions along those lines flitted about in my mind, I entered the classroom, my pulse quickening as I anticipated seeing Haruhi sitting there in her typical spot behind mine.

And there she was...sitting right there by the window, her elbow resting on the table as she propped her head up with her hand. And unlike normal, instead of an expression of dissatisfaction on her face, a look of anxiety and worry similar to mine rested there.

Wait a second.

Was she wearing a ponytail? Did she somehow subconsciously remember the one thing I told her before we'd left the closed space the one time we were both in it? And did she wear it...for me? Oh, man. My heart was beating double time now.

Somewhat unsure of how to greet Haruhi after yesterday's events, I headed into the classroom attempting to keep my usual calm, collected air. After what felt like an eternity of me agonizing over various potential ways the next minute or two could go, I finally arrived at my desk, seeing my bag down and plopping down in my seat once I had.

I turned in my chair to face Haruhi behind me. "Hey, Haruhi," I said in the straightest voice possible.

Haruhi flinched at the sound of my voice, her head slipping off of her hand before jerking straight up again. After regaining her senses, she looked around, dazed. Was she not paying attention? Maybe she was agonizing over the same things I'd just been. "Wha...?" Her eyes narrowed on me, and in realization she suddenly reddened, blinking quickly and avoiding my gaze. "O-Oh, hey K-Kyon!"

"U-Um..." I wasn't sure how to respond next. Did I dare mention yesterday? It felt somehow like a topic we'd nonverbally agreed never to talk about.

"Uh..." It seemed Haruhi was at as much of a loss as I was. I was beginning to genuinely consider the possibility of her actually having no clue how couples worked. I mean, I wasn't one to talk, but considering all the guys she'd dated, however briefly, I would have expected some knowledge on the subject on her part. Kind of made me want to roll my eyes at her having started a couples' counselling service.

Taniguchi then burst both into the classroom and through the bubble of awkwardness surrounding Haruhi and I. "Kyon! You're ditching me midway through a conversation _again_?!"

"S-Sorry..." I apologized half-heartedly.

Suddenly, a maniacal grin began to grow on Taniguchi's face as his eyes darted from Haruhi to me and then back again. Uh oh. "Oh, look! If it isn't Kyon's new girlfriend!" Taniguchi teased I'm sing-song fashion, fluttering his eyes in accentuation. Haruhi immediately went burning red, as did I, while I glared at Taniguchi. Dammit! I knew we teased each other a lot, but this was too far! Though, I guess he _did_ think I was lying.

"Kyon's got a girlfriend?" Kunikida suddenly popped up out of nowhere, again giving me flashbacks to last Monday.

"Oh, yeah!" Taniguchi went on, walking up to Haruhi, whose face was yet again being hidden behind her curtain of hair, and me, who was currently cowering in my desk and wishing Taniguchi had stayed home sick. "Haven't you heard? Kyon went on a date last night! And guess who the lucky lady was?"

"Who?" Asked Kunikida innocently.

"Haruhi Suzumiya!" Taniguchi declared triumphantly, leaving a heavy air behind him.

I froze upon the mention of the infamous girl who was sitting directly behind me, her expression thereby hidden front my view. Oh, no. How was she reacting? How was she _going_ to react?

Suddenly, pulling my attention away from keeping my tomato-red face from sight, Haruhi leapt out of her seat and shot a hand out, grabbing Taniguchi's tie forcefully and pulling him closer, her raged expression quickly dominating his newly cowering one as his legs struggled to hold him up under Haruhi's intense gaze.

"So what if we went out on a date, huh?!" Haruhi spat at Taniguchi, who quivered pathetically.

"A-Ah, uhm, I, u-uh..." stuttered Taniguchi.

"Hey, Haruhi, it's alright, okay?" I interjected, standing up to be on their level. "He's just mad that I ditched him on the way to school, okay? Don't take it out on him!"

"It's not alright, Kyon!" Haruhi exclaimed, suddenly blushing again. "I don't want people making fun of you just because I'm your girlfriend! I know I've been bad with my past 'boyfriends', but I don't want that to affect you!"

I brought my palm up to my forehead, half to cover what blush I could and half to cringe at Haruhi's fatal slip. "H-Haruhi...you just told the entire class we're dating." I deadpanned.

Haruhi froze, and looked around at the stunned expressions of those students who had overheard the accident within Haruhi's brief speech, including a very dead look from Taniguchi and a tamer surprised look from Kunikida. "U-U-Uh..." Haruhi stammered, her eyes finally returning to meet mine.

"W-Wait," Taniguchi piped up, suddenly finding his voice again despite having undergone the rage of Haruhi, "So you two actually _are_ dating?"

"U-Um," Haruhi and I stuttered at the same time, our gazes searching for something other than eye contact with anyone else in the room. Why were we being like this? Didn't we want people to know about this? Was the status quo so deeply ingrained in each of our subconscious that we were finding it _this_ difficult to tell people?

"Y-Yes!" Haruhi announced after some time had passed, her eyes bravely locked with Taniguchi's despite the bright shade of red painted across her cheeks. "I, Haruhi Suzumiya, am in love with Kyon! And we are a couple!" With sudden dramatic flare and unnecessary emphasis, Haruhi then wrapped her hand around mine and thrust it into the air, as though declaring me the winner of a wrestling match or something.

"O-Oh," Taniguchi choked on the word, apparently struggling to keep himself standing, let alone talk. "Okay,"

"Congratulations!" Kunikida said cheerfully.

And then the room was bathed in an unbearable silence as Haruhi held my hand high up in the air awkwardly, and as the blood began to leave my hand while a tingly sensation replaced it, I found it difficult to withstand the stunned stares of the students in the classroom.

"Alright, everyone, to their seats," Mr. Okabe, spouting his usual line absent-mindedly, entered the room before stopping once his eyes had taken in the baffling sight before him. I can only guess at what was going through his head.

.

It's pretty safe to say that as soon as the students in Haruhi's and my class were set loose about the school once lunch rolled around, the surprising fact that Haruhi and I were now dating was spread thoroughly and quickly. I could already hear outrageous and outlandish rumours sprouting up about how we even got together. I could only assume someone wanted to cash in on the popular news, given that no one had even been around to watch Haruhi and I when that whole thing happened in the first place, apart from maybe Koizumi, who, in all honesty, had probably actually spied on us and seen it all first hand.

This, unfortunately, meant that Haruhi and I were being bombarded with prodding questions and observing states from across the room all day, meaning that Haruhi and I, even disregarding the fact that we were a couple, had to stick together, both to survive the onslaught and to prove the skeptics wrong. After all, I was proud of mine and Haruhi's relationship. I wanted it to be seen and known.

"Wow, no way, Kyon!" Came a familiar voice as Haruhi and I began to eat our lunches together, something we'd never done before.

I turned at the sound of Tsuruya's cheerful voice beside me, and was frankly relieved it wasn't some annoying stranger trying to find out if it was true. At least Tsuruya knew Haruhi and I personally. She wasn't going to poke and prod around our personal life.

"You two are actually dating, then?" Tsuruya asked as she stood beside Haruhi's desk, which both I and she were using to eat upon.

"Yep," Haruhi said through her mouthful of food.

Classy.

"Wow!" Tsuruya exclaimed wondrously, her eyes darting gleefully from Haruhi to me to Haruhi again. "You know, I always kind of suspected that you'd had a crush on Kyon, Haru-nyan, but I never would've expected you two to end up together in the end! Guess you managed to seduce him, eh, Haruhi?"

"Heh, yeah..." I trailed off. I wasn't sure 'seduce' was the right word. Haruhi could be seductive at times, sure, but I think it was her entire personality that attracted me. I couldn't help but love every part of her.

"This is stupid," Taniguchi groaned beside us, his cheek resting on the cold top of my desk as a melancholic expression overtook his features. "Why does Kyon get a proper girlfriend before I do? And she's Haruhi Suzumiya, at that!"

"I'm sure you'll get your chance eventually," Kunikida patted his shoulder supportively.

"Just you liven it up now, Kyon!" Taniguchi exclaimed, a new sense if hope and determination coming over him as he raised his head up. "I'll get a girlfriend soon, just you wait! And she'll be an even bigger piece of news than Haruhi Suzumiya!"

"I doubt that," Haruhi commented smugly. Taniguchi faltered a bit, but regained his bravado

"J-Just wait and see, okay?" He stuttered at us both.

Tsuruya placed her forefinger on her chin pensively. "You know, don't couples usually do things like feed each other?" She wiggled her eyebrows at Haruhi and me, causing us both to redden.

"Ts-Tsuruya!" Haruhi stammered her eyes darting to the side to meet mine briefly before she pulled them away.

"What?" Tsuruya chuckled innocently. "Isn't it only natural?"

"What, did you and your boyfriend do lovey-dovey couple-y things the day after you agreed to go put, Tsuruya?" I said, attempting to rescue Haruhi. While it was true that I wouldn't mind being fed my lunch by Haruhi, I knew that Haruhi would find great discomfort in such a romantic act, especially when Tsuruya, Taniguchi and Kunikida were all watching, not to mention several wary stares from across the room.

"W-Well, no, I guess..." Tsuruya trailed off, the tables now turned.

"Have you kissed yet?" Taniguchi interrupted, his original melancholy setting back in as he once again laid his head down on my desk, a gloomy expression taking over his face. I guess his earlier confidence was short-lived.

Haruhi and I both blushed intensely at the question, refusing to make eye contact with anyone as we stared obstinately at our lunches. What the hell, Taniguchi?! Why did you have to be so rude sometimes? "Taniguchi!" I snapped, voicing my irritation. "We only got together yesterday! What kind of a question is that?!"

"Sorry, sorry," Taniguchi said with zero sincerity.

"Have you, though?" Kunikida asked politely. "You didn't actually answer his question."

I froze, mirroring Haruhi across from me. What were we supposed to say? The truth? I wasn't sure if that was the best option or not. I mean, was it weird that we had? Was that strange that we'd, only minutes after our confessions, had our first kiss? I wasn't sure. I was probably the least educated person to ask about something like that, apart from maybe Taniguchi, despite what he might claim.

"U-Uh..." Haruhi began, apparently wanting to take the lead. "Y-Yeah, so what?"

"What?!" Taniguchi cried, his head jolting upright with newfound energy as he stared incredulously at me. "Really? I was just asking for fun, but you actually have? You, Kyon? With Haruhi Suzumiya!"

I frowned. I was getting kind of tired of his disbelief, here.

Taniguchi then proceeded to go on about how impressed he was that I'd managed to rope in Haruhi, and suffice it to say, that's basically how the rest of the lunch period went. Then Tsuruya left, and classes resumed as normal. Haruhi and I continued to exchange glances long after the incident, however, and as I sat there in my desk, completely ignoring whatever it was that was being written on the board, I realized my love for Haruhi was growing stronger by the hour.

.

By the time the day was over, it had kind of slipped my mind that we'd have to inform the other members of the SOS Brigade that we were now a couple. To be honest, it was both a daunting task and something that, with some presumptuous thinking, didn't seem like it would end up being all that much of a big deal. After all, as I'd already gone over, their reactions to the news, at least according to my imagination, we're going to be pretty tame, especially in comparison to this morning.

Still, the idea of telling them somehow terrified me as Haruhi and I made our way to the club room after school that day.

The silence was both strange and yet somehow appropriate for the situation. Normally, Haruhi would probably be rambling on about how she despised the Student Council President, or how she had come up with a new plan to exploit the members of the Computer club, or something else along those lines. Now, however; well, things were a bit different now.

For one, Haruhi and I were dating. It was entirely new territory for both of us, and the walk to our club room full of people we were about to break the news to probably wasn't helping our nerves. Still, I did feel that no words were needed to be exchanged right now. All Haruhi and I needed currently was for the other person to simply be by their side.

With a sense of finality, Haruhi and I then reached our destination: the Literature Club Room, home of the SOS Brigade. Behind these doors, our comrades sat potentially unaware of what was about to occur. Though in all honesty, with the announcement Haruhi had made earlier today, they'd probably already heard through some means or another.

Gulping, HaruhI opened the door, letting sunlight hit our faces and bringing into view the lovely maid Asahina, the annoyingly pleasant Koizumi, and the unnoticeably present Nagato. As though nothing was out of the ordinary, they sat in their regular places nonchalantly (well, apart from Asahina, who was still making tea, but you get the gist).

Upon the opening of the club room's door, Koizumi and Asahina both turned their heads to see our entry. In a relaxed and pleasant voice, Koizumi greeted us. "Congratulations, you two!"

I froze. Ah. I guess he had indeed already heard about us.

Haruhi, however, appeared to be surprised. "Wh-Wh-Wha...?"

"I'm so glad you two got together." Koizumi said, smiling as he took a sip of his tea.

"Ah, um, yes, me too!" Asahina stammered, setting down a teacup for me. "I hope your relationship, uh...goes well?"

Nagato gave Haruhi and I each a passing glance before nodding imperceptibly. That must have been the Nagato equivalent of "Congrats".

"What?" Haruhi exclaimed, suddenly finding her voice. "How did you guys find out?"

"You two are certainly the talk of the town," Koizumi replied. "Word travelled fast, to put it simply. But I must congratulate you further, he said, glancing directly at me. "I'm overjoyed to hear you've become a couple. It warms my heart, thinking of what courage you must have had to muster to get to this point. A delightful, youthful romance." He gave me the briefest of winks, so quick I'm surprised I managed to catch it.

Huh. That bastard. He totally spied on our whole confession scene.

But that wink probably wasn't to convey that. I knew exactly what Koizumi was trying to communicate to me. My mind instantly replayed my most recent conversation with him. He was the one who'd pushed me to go on a date with her. He'd told me that he had full confidence in me, and a strong desire for Haruhi and I to get together. I guess this was a dream come true for him, huh? Finally, I'd mustered up enough courage to become Haruhi's boyfriend, just like he wanted.

"So, is there anything on the table for the Brigade today, Chief?" Koizumi asked.

"Ah! Um..." Haruhi started, immediately seeming unsure. I guess she hadn't thought about what to do after we'd told the others. It kind of made me feel special knowing that Haruhi was thinking if our relationship so much that she'd forgotten that she had to plan what to do during the time dedicated to her precious Brigade.

Koizumi chuckled. "It's alright. I know you don't really want to spend your time here, right? Either of you. I myself may never have been in a relationship, but I can tell from your faces. You just want to spend some time alone together, correct?"

Haruhi and I both blushed, making brief eye contact before ducking our heads. I knew that that was basically the thought process running through _my_ head, but Haruhi was thinking that too? I guess the way my heart fluttered at that realization was proof enough that I loved her as much as I did.

Suddenly, breaking me away from my inner thoughts and pulling me back into reality, Haruhi took my hand gently into hers, causing me to look down at our interlocked hands while my heart pounded like a jackhammer. I then looked up, meeting Haruhi's eyes. I couldn't help but chuckle. "I guess you really do want to be alone with me, huh?" I squeezed her hand affectionately. "Don't worry; I do, too."

Asahina giggled sweetly. "Don't let us bother you. Go on!" She urged.

Haruhi tore her eyes off of me for a moment to regard the three seated members of the SOS Brigade. In a rare moment for her, she bowed low, her curtain of hair once again hiding her expression. "Thank you!"

I gave Haruhi's hand another squeeze, and she straightened, meeting my gaze. I smiled. "Where do you want to go?"

She looked up pensively. "Would you mind if I decided to be cliché and went for the roof?"

"Honestly, I think you'd mind more than I would, when it comes to clichés." I remarked, still smiling. "Heh. The roof it is, then."

Haruhi's eye twinkled. "To the roof!" She declared, pointing skyward with her free hand and giving the SOS Brigade one last look, before she promptly pulled me out of the Literature Club Room, dashing down the hallway at high speeds, all the while pulling me behind her like an out-of-control dog pulling their helpless owner along as they chased a squirrel.

Honestly, it reminded me of one of my first memories of Haruhi. I could clearly recall how, not long after I'd planted the idea in her head to form the club—er, I mean Brigade—I was in now, she'd yanked me down the hall by my wrist, going a million miles an hour while I struggled to keep up. It wasn't much different from how things were now, except Haruhi and I _were_ different. We'd changed. We'd grown. And we'd become a couple.

But that's a dumb word, isn't it? Couple. No, it wasn't necessarily that Haruhi and I were a couple. That label, I felt, was too broad. Sure, we were like a couple in every way, but at the same time, we were more than that. We were always meant to be, I could feel it. And despite the fact that there were millions upon millions of couples around the world, plenty that had existed and plenty that will, I still somehow felt that what Haruhi and I had was something unique. Something different. Something special. Like a secret only we were in on.

Musing this in my mind, I felt a spike of ecstasy shoot through my veins as Haruhi pulled me out onto the roof, the sun approaching the horizon and thereby sending beams of fantastic multi-coloured light our way. It was vibrant and explosive and beautiful, perfectly adding visuals to what I was feeling. As Haruhi's hand readjusted itself in mine so that our fingers were interlocking, I returned her enthusiastic and passionate smile.

"Haruhi..." I breathed as we stopped in the middle of the roof, gazing into each other's eyes. I could feel the love radiating off of her as our free hand met.

"Kyon..." She said with an equal amount of passion, a light, loving, Haruhi-like smile on her lips. "What'll we do now?"

"I guess..." I began, unsure of how to respond to such a vague question. "I guess we'll just have to wait and see."

A sudden look of melancholy passed over Haruhi's expression. "What if this won't work out, though? What if it's all destined to go south?"

I just smiled confidently. "Silly. I know this is right. I know this is meant to be. It won't go south, I guarantee. And, even if we face obstacles along the way, I know we'll get through it. I mean, what can't Haruhi Suzumiya do, after all?"

"I think you mean, 'What can't Kyon do?'" Haruhi said, cracking a grin.

I returned it. "Don't worry, Haruhi. I love you, and you love me. Do we need any more assurance than that? Like I said, no matter what comes out way, we'll get through it." I said, turning my gaze to the setting sun, it's warm colours embracing us in our tender moment.

"Together?" Asked Haruhi, returning my attention to her.

I smiled. "Together."

And, as Haruhi and I leaned in, getting closer and closer together, the world began to dissolve around me, until all I could see was the beautiful girl in front of me, and all I could feel were Haruhi's warm lips embracing mine once again. And in that moment of pure bliss, I wouldn't hesitate to call it perfection.

Even if the world was destroyed right then and there, I was confident that I wouldn't mind in the least. Because, after all, I was kissing Haruhi Suzumiya.

What more could I ask for?

.

 **Hey, all! Thanks for reading the sixth chapter of my Haruhi Suzumiya fanfiction! It's truly been a long journey, hasn't it? I know I'm beat. But I am proud of this one. Once again, thanks for sticking with me all the way.**

 **Now, I know that I've framed this chapter as being the last one, and I've done it that way one purpose. So, I really, really,** _ **really**_ **want to know from you guys whether you want me to continue this fanfic, or leave it as is. I've left this chapter purposefully open-ended so that if you guys do want me to add on, I totally can, but if you don't, I can just leave it.**

 **To be honest, though, I'm kind of burnt out on writing things right now. It kind of is a push just to write each page of this fic, so I definitely want to take a break from writing in general for a bit. I'm sorry about that, but I think a bit of a hiatus is just what I need. But don't worry! I won't be gone that long, and I'll be sure to get going on another fanfic in due time.**

 **Also, sorry to keep asking things of you guys to comment me, but I was kind of wondering what you think I should write my next fic about (as in, what anime or cartoon or whatever should I write about?). I do have a few ideas in my head, but I'm not too confident about them, so some help in this department would be much appreciated.**

 **So, once again, please tell me whether you want me to keep going with this fic or whether you want me to stop here, and also what anime should I write about next?**

 **I hope to hear from you all soon, and I'll see you in my next fanfic!**


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